Overview: Significance of Mapping The Plantain Garden & Wagwater Earthquake Faults for Myself
At the time of this edition draft, and over the course of 1 calendar year, I had mapped the Wagwater & Plantain Garden fault systems, across multiple communities/sections of Kingston & St. Andrew parishes.
Whilst Google Search/AI has produced a number of secondary sources of prior work conducted–chief standouts including: Professor Simon Mitchell (Professor of Sedimentology) and Margaret Wiggins-Grandison (former head of The Earthquake Unit of Jamaica), I have been dissatisfied with the gaps.
Among which, include the following questions:
- What does the Plantain Garden & Wagwater faults actually look like in the field?
- How do both of these faults co-exist on the surface, and likely beneath the surface?
- How does the landscape dominated by these faults actually look?
- What insight can Alluvium (Hope River, Cane River) provide in terms of the relatively recent activity of these faults; what are their effects on the sediment(s); and possible effects on construction/built infrastructure on the Alluvial Plains of the KMA, and other similar, across eastern Jamaica today?
- If both of these faults are moving at differing speeds, What are the signs of Aseismic Creep; and what are the likely implications for the relatively new infrastructure erected?
Areas I’ve Covered (at time of publishing): Earthquake Hazards Mapping in Kingston & St. Andrew
Below are the areas of I’ve covered with my mapping thus far. Hyperlinks to respective reports/videos have been included, to give you further insight on my observations & recommendations where applicable. Some of these are premium content.
- Kintyre.
- Lindos Gap-Peter’s Rock.
- Skyline, Gordon Town-Newcastle.
- Constant Spring-Stony Hill-Bowden Hill.
- Guava Ridge to Clydesdale.
- Cane River Falls.
- Cane River-Bito.
- Cane River-Bull Bay.
- 9 Miles Bull Bay
- 9 Miles Bull Bay-Bloxburg.
- Mavis Bank Coffee Factory-Tower Hill
- Halls Delight-Westphalia
- Constitution Hill-Dallas
- Papine-Hollywell (via Newcastle)
4 Part Series: Silent Non-Earthquake (Damage) in KMA; The BIG One
By watching & listening to these videos, you’ll see first-hand and learn:
- The non-earthquake damage ocuring to our built infrastructure, before our very eyes.
- That the damage highlighted in 1 above, poses both direct, and indirect negative effects, on the lifetime of foundation & infrastructure (buildings, roads, pipes).
- That attention & mitigative efforts should also be directed to minor earthquakes, and non-earthquake seismic activity…
Aseismic Creep: Active & Silent Threat to Infrastructure in Acadia, St. Andrew & Wider KMA
Available: August 2, 2026
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