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We present 33 new focal mechanisms for SE Caribbean earthquakes (1963–1988). We use these mechanisms, in conjunction with 28 previously available mechanisms, to distinguish between two models of plate boundary zone interaction in the SE Caribbean: the trench‐trench transform and hinge faulting model, and the right oblique collision model. Shallow (0–70 km) and intermediate (70–200 km) depth earthquakes occur in the study region; we focus on the tectonic causes of these events and the motions they delineate. The shallow earthquakes are in a broad linear zone which trends NE from the Paria Peninsula of Venezuela towards Barbados. Intermediate depth earthquakes cluster beneath and NW of the Peninsula, and deepen to the NW, perpendicular to the NE‐trending shallow events. The vertical distribution of the earthquakes suggests a slab with steep NW dip. Shallow, dextral strike slip on E‐striking faults is restricted to a 60‐km‐wide linear zone between the Gulf of Cariaco and the western margin of the Gulf of Paria. Dextral strike slip is active only as far east as the Gulf of Paria, and not within or east of Trinidad. Shallow thrust events with ENE‐striking planes, distributed between the Araya Peninsula and the Gulf of Paria, indicate collision at crustal levels between South America and Caribbean, and that folding and thrusting are still active over a 60‐km interval south of the Araya‐Paria isthmus. Active thrusting in Venezuela corroborates predictions of transpression between Caribbean and South America and discounts transtensional motions between the two plates in the SE Caribbean. The conjunction of shallow thrust, strike slip, and normal earthquakes in the Gulf of Paria at around 62.3° may be the expression of unpartitioned oblique compressive deformation in the plate boundary zone. Intermediate (165 km > h > 70 km) depth thrust and dip slip events within the NW‐dipping slab indicate that oceanic lithosphere, probably originally attached to South America, subducts to the NW beneath the Caribbean plate. Shallow normal faulting events E and NE of Trinidad are expressions of plate bending about near‐horizontal axes parallel to the Lesser Antilles subduction zone. We conclude that the earthquake mechanisms provide strong support for the right oblique collision model of Caribbean‐South American plate interaction.

Abstract. The onset of phreatic volcanic activity at the Soufriere Hills volcano, Montserrat on 18 July 1995 followed a three-year period of heightened volcano-seismic activity beneath the island. Phreatic explosions gave way to continuous eruption of juvenile andesitic magma in the form of a lava dome on or around 15 November 1995. Magma production rate has varied, leading to changes in eruptive style. An explosive eruption on 17 September 1996 followed a period of enhanced dome growth and large-scale gravitational collapses from its eastern flank. Increasing dome volume led to stressing and overtopping of the confining crater walls to the southwest, north and west during early 1997. Sustained high magma production rate since June 1997 has led to three periods of major gravitational dome collapses followed by vulcanian explosive eruptions. Dome growth re-started immediately after the cessation of the latest of these explosive phases in October 1997 and continues as of December 1997. Volcanic History, Precursor Activity and MonitoringThe Soufriere Hills volcano (SHV) lies in the south-central part of the British overseas territorial island of Montserrat, near the northern end of the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc (Figure 1)

During 1998During -2000, the island of Dominica in the Lesser Antilles experienced a major volcanic earthquake swarm spatially associated with volcanic centres in the south of the island. This swarm provided the motivation for a major re-assessment of geologic history and volcanic hazards in this region. This has led to a reinterpretation of the south-western-most corner of the island as a large volcanic complex, termed the Plat Pays volcanic complex, which has exhibited a wide range of past eruptive activity and which, in the Quaternary, experienced a major caldera collapse triggered by a voluminous pyroclastic eruption. Stratigraphy and new 14 C age determinations reveal a complicated history of development. The earliest activity is represented by the formation of the Plat Pays stratovolcano and associated parasitic domes. A major explosive eruptioñ 39,000 years b.p. produced the Grand Bay ignimbrite and triggered a major caldera collapse of the summit and south-western flank of the Plat Pays stratovolcano. Following the major eruption, re-injection of Plat Pays magma resulted in the extrusion of approximately 12 lava domes both within and outside the resulting depression. Caldera collapse was followed by at least one catastrophic flank collapse, but it is unclear whether or not this was triggered by caldera formation. The only on-shore evidence of flank collapse is the breach of the caldera rim and truncation of post-caldera deposits emplaced on or near the caldera rim; we find no evidence of on-shore large-magnitude rock avalanche deposits within the stratigraphic framework of the Plat Pays volcanic com-plex. Frequent seismic swarms of volcanic earthquakes and vigorous geothermal activity indicate that south Dominica is still underlain by an active magma reservoir system. Our new geological observations, combined with an interpretation of recent seismic swarm activity, suggest that an eruption (probably dome-forming) from the Plat Pays volcanic complex is probable within the next 100 years.