PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad (CMC) – The University of the West Indies (UWI) Seismic Research Centre in Trinidad has confirmed that the coastal uplift that tore through the Galfa coastline in Cedros in the country last week was a result of the two deadly twin earthquakes that rocked Venezuela’s northern coast.

The 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes that ravaged the South American country have led to over 2,000 deaths, leaving thousands homeless and several more missing as rescue efforts continue.

The hardest hit La Guaira State in Venezuela sits roughly 300 miles from Trinidad’s southwestern coastline. But last week, shortly after the quakes occurred, Cedros residents found the coastline dramatically shifted.

Geologist Xavier Moonan initially estimated that the coast had been lifted as much as 20 feet higher near instantaneously in the aftermath.

The shifting occurred so rapidly that hundreds of sea creatures remained stranded, some trapped by boulders along the shore line. Rippling pools emitting what Moonan assessed to be a natural oil seep were also observed.

The UWI SRC on Thursday released its preliminary assessment of the location, noting that the event was indeed triggered by the quakes. It also drew comparison to a similar fracturing that occurred in the aftermath of a large earthquake near Trinidad in 2018.

The SRC explained that the geology of the area is characterised by the presence of mud volcanoes as a result of the Southern anticline  – a  major geological rock folding system that runs across southern Trinidad.

The anticline, running from east to west and containing faults, forms a linear feature along the south coast that allows pressurised water, oil and gas previously pushed deep beneath the earth’s surface by the movement of plates to move upwards, it said. The result, it said, is a line of mud volcanoes along the southern coast.

As mud volcanoes are typically characterised by fluids near the surface, the SRC said that the grounds surrounding them have very low shear wave velocities. Shear waves (a type of seismic wave) typically move slowly through weaker or softer rock. According to the SRC, this makes these areas more susceptible to ground shaking from a larger earthquake.

The SRC said the earthquakes in Venezuela occurred along the same fault system, with similar focal mechanisms and within a close period of time.

As a result, the SRC said, it can be considered one massive event that resulted in shaking that lasted over 10 minutes.

a screengrab from videos shared on tiktok shows the shift in a Trinidad and tobago coastline (Tiktok account: lmpamahadeo)