Haiti lies along the North Caribbean plate boundary, marked by two major left-lateral strike-slip faults. A southwest-verging Trans-Haitian fold-and-thrust belt (FTB), mostly affecting tertiary carbonate platform, developed in central Haiti between the two faults, south of the Massif du Nord and the San Juan–Los Pozos Fault Zone, as a result of north-south shortening. The large NW-SE antiformal Gonâve Island and Ridge mark the southwest termination of the FTB as it encountered the Southern Peninsula and Enriquillo-Plantain Garden Fault Zone. We show that this collision resulted in a tightening of the deformed wedge and thrust faults rooted deeper into the crust, leading to a transition from thin-skinned to thick-skinned tectonics in the Pliocene. These short- (3–6 km) and long- (15–30 km) wavelength folding deformations are temporally distinct in the north and more concomitant in the south, where compressional thin-skinned deformation is still active. The thick-skinned shortening was mostly expressed during the Quaternary, as shown by the formation of folds and uplift of terraces between 1.7 Ma and today. This thick-skinned detachment is characterised by a stronger imprint of strike-slip component, dragging the FTB to a more E-W direction in its northwest and southeast extremities. Understanding of the fault zone geometry of the recent 2010 Haiti earthquake (M = 7.2) could be reconsidered in the light of this tectonic transition.

海地位于北加勒比板块边界，以两条主要的左旋走滑断层为标志。在海地中部两个断层之间，即北地块和圣胡安-洛斯波索斯断层带以南，一条西南边缘的横贯海地褶皱冲断带（FTB），主要影响第三碳酸盐台地，作为南北缩短的结果。大型 NW-SE 反形式 Gonâve Island 和 Ridge 标志着 FTB 的西南端，因为它遇到了南部半岛和 Enriquillo-Plantain Garden 断层带。我们表明，这次碰撞导致变形的楔形断层和深入地壳的逆冲断层收紧，导致上新世从薄皮构造到厚皮构造的转变。这些短（3-6 公里）和长（15-30 公里）波长折叠变形在时间上在北方明显不同，在南方更伴随，那里的压缩薄皮变形仍然活跃。厚皮缩短主要在第四纪表现出来，从 1.7 Ma 到现在的褶皱形成和阶地隆升可以看出。这种厚皮拆离的特点是走滑分量更强，将 FTB 在其西北和东南端拖向更 EW 的方向。鉴于这种构造转变，可以重新考虑对最近 2010 年海地地震（M = 7.2）的断层带几何形状的理解。厚皮的缩短主要在第四纪表现出来，从 1.7 Ma 到今天的褶皱形成和阶地隆升可以看出。这种厚皮拆离的特点是走滑成分的印记更强烈，将 FTB 在其西北和东南端拖向更 EW 的方向。鉴于这种构造转变，可以重新考虑对最近 2010 年海地地震（M = 7.2）的断层带几何形状的理解。厚皮缩短主要在第四纪表现出来，从 1.7 Ma 到现在的褶皱形成和阶地隆升可以看出。这种厚皮拆离的特点是走滑成分的印记更强烈，将 FTB 在其西北和东南端拖向更 EW 的方向。鉴于这种构造转变，可以重新考虑对最近 2010 年海地地震（M = 7.2）的断层带几何形状的理解。