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Open Access Collections

The papers listed below have been published by the Geological Society of London and have been made freely available to all users.

Chilean tectonics: February earthquake
Caribbean geology: Haiti earthquake
Charles Darwin's papers


Chilean tectonics: February earthquake


A massive earthquake struck Chile on Saturday 27 February, killing more than 700 people. The earthquake hit at 3.34 local time, originating offshore approximately 8km west of Curanipe, and 115 km north-northeast of Concepción, Chile’s second largest city. At magnitude 8.8, this was the eighth most powerful ever recorded, considerably more powerful than the Haitian quake (to which it is not related). For further information about Chilean tectonics, please read the introduction by Bob Pankhurst below.

The followng papers, which will remain open access until the end of April 2010, give more general background on Chilean tectonics; the Chapter by Barrientos is especially relevant. In addition, the Geological Society of London publishes a title, The Geology of Chile, available via its online bookshop (hardback and paperback versions available).
 


Also available are chapters 9 and 10 from the book 'The Geology of Chile':

J. Cembrano, A. Lavenu, G. Yanez, R. Riquelme, M. Garcia, G. Gonzalez and G. Herail, 2007,
'Neotectonics'
In: T. Moreno and W. Gibbons (ed.) The Geology of Chile. Geological Society of London: 231-261.
S.E. Barrientos, 2007
'Earthquakes in Chile'
In: T. Moreno and W. Gibbons (ed.) The Geology of Chile. Geological Society of London: 263-287.


 Caribbean geology: Haiti earthquake


The Caribbean nation of Haiti was struck by a magnitude 7 earthquake on 12 January, about 10 miles south-west of Port-au-Prince. The earthquake is the first to affect this area for over 200 years. It has occurred along the Enriquillo-Plantain Garden fault system situated along the edge of the Caribbean Plate, which is moving eastwards into the Atlantic, against the advancing Atlantic seafloor.

The earthquakes effects were amplified because the focus was shallow – around 10km – meaning that very little of the energy released was absorbed by the overlying rocks, and so was able to cause damage at surface.

The following papers about Caribbean geology will remain open access until the end of March 2010. The GSA have also made several papers about the Caribbean plate and the Enriquillo-Plaintain fault line freely available online.

  • The recently published Special Publication 328: 'The Origin and Evolution of the Caribbean Plate', is available online or can be purchased as a hard copy from the Society’s online bookshop.
     
  • James L. Pindell and Lorcan Kennan
    'Tectonic evolution of the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean and northern South America in the mantle reference frame: an update'
    Geological Society, London, Special Publications 2009, 328: 1-55.
    http://sp.lyellcollection.org/cgi/content/abstract/328/1/1
     
  • Lothar Ratschbacher, Leander Franz, Myo Min, Raik Bachmann, Uwe Martens, Klaus Stanek, Konstanze Stübner, Bruce K. Nelson, Uwe Herrmann, Bodo Weber, Margarita López-Martínez, Raymond Jonckheere, Blanka Sperner, Marion Tichomirowa, Michael O. Mcwilliams, Mark Gordon, Martin Meschede and Peter Bock
    'The North American-Caribbean Plate boundary in Mexico-Guatemala-Honduras'
    Geological Society, London, Special Publications 2009, 328: 219-293.
    http://sp.lyellcollection.org/cgi/content/abstract/328/1/219
  • K. P. Stanek, W. V. Maresch and J. L. Pindell
    'The geotectonic story of the northwestern branch of the Caribbean Arc: implications from structural and geochronological data of Cuba'
    Geological Society, London, Special Publications 2009, 328: 361-398.
    http://sp.lyellcollection.org/cgi/content/abstract/328/1/361


Charles Darwin's papers


The Society has made the papers Darwin published with the Geological Society open access until the end of March 2010. There are 10 papers in all – three in the Transactions of the Geological Society of London and seven in the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society. To view these papers in the Lyell Collection, follow the links below: