Relative velocity between the Caribbean and South American plates from GPSobservations in northern Venezuela

Comparison of Global Positioning System (GPS) observations made in 1994 and 1999 in north-central and northeastern Venezuela and the southern Caribbea n region indicate that the Caribbean plate, along its southern boundary, sl ips at a rate of 20.5 +/- 2mm/yr in the N84 degrees +/-2 degreesE direction relative to the South American plate. Eighty per cent of this dextral slip is contained within an 80km wide shear zone centered approximately on the nearly east-west striking El Pilar-San Sebastian fault system along the nor thern Venezuelan coast.