The Geodynamic Polygon of Santiago De Cuba: A Scientific and Socio-Economic Perspective

Abstract

Since 1971 the Cuban Institute of Geodesy and Cartography and the Institutes of Geography corresponding to the Academy of Sciences from Cuba and the U.S.S.R. have been investigating recent geodynamic processes in Cuban territory, applying geodesy, geologic and geomorphologic methods. In the eastern region the correlation of morpho-structural characteristics with the velocities of recent vertical crustal movements, the results of seismologic observations and the socio-economic importance of the region Santiago de Cuba, led to the necessity for the establishment of a geodynamic polygon, for the study in complex and integral form of the relation between recent vertical movements and seismicity, to assist in the prediction of earthquakes. This paper shows the results in the preliminary profiles corresponding to relative velocities of vertical crustal movements for the most important first and second order nivelation routed in the studied area, the territorial distribution of the seismological events in the southeastern region, as well as judgments in the density of epicentral distribution; it explains the proposed altimetric observation net for a geodynamic polygon and the complex system of geoscientific investigations which must be carried out.