TRINIDAD-UWI says the earthquake in Venezuela caused the coastline to rise.

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – The University of the West Indies (UWI) Seismic Research Center has confirmed that the coastal uplift that tore through the Galfa coastline in Cedros – to the south of here- last week was a result of the two deadly twin earthquakes that rocked Venezuela’s northern coast.

The 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes that ravaged the South American country have led to over two thousand deaths, leaving thousands homeless and several more missing as rescue efforts continue. The hardest-hit La Guaira State in Venezuela sits roughly 300 miles from Trinidad’s southwestern coastline. But last week, shortly after the quakes, Cedros residents found that the coastline had shifted dramatically.

Geologist Xavier Moonan initially estimated that the coast had been lifted as much as 20 feet in a near-instantaneous manner in the aftermath.

The shifting occurred so rapidly that hundreds of sea creatures remained stranded, some trapped by boulders along the shoreline. Rippling pools emitting what Moonan assessed to be a natural oil seep were also observed.

The UWI SRC released its preliminary assessment of the location yesterday, noting that the quakes indeed triggered the event. It also drew comparisons to a similar fracturing that occurred in the aftermath of a large earthquake near Trinidad in 2018.

The SRC explained that the geology of the area is characterized by mud volcanoes resulting from the Southern anticline – a major geological fold system that runs across southern Trinidad.

The anticline, running from east to west and containing faults, forms a linear feature along the south coast that allows pressurized water, oil and gas previously pushed deep beneath the earth’s surface by the movement of plates to move upwards, it said. The result, it said, is a line of mud volcanoes along the southern coast.

As near-surface fluids typically characterize mud volcanoes, the SRC said that the ground surrounding them has very low shear-wave velocities. Shear waves (a type of seismic wave) typically move slowly through weaker or softer rock. According to the SRC, this makes these areas more susceptible to ground shaking from a larger earthquake.

The SRC said the earthquakes in Venezuela occurred along the same fault system, with similar focal mechanisms and within a close period of time.

As a result, the SRC said it can be considered one massive event that caused shaking lasting over 10 minutes.