Co-seismic secondary surface fractures on Southeastward extension of the rupture zone of the 2005 Kashmir earthquake

After the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, we mapped surface ground fractures in Tangdhar, Uri, Rajouri and Punch sectors and liquefaction features in Jammu area lying close to the eastern side of the Line of Control (LOC) in Kashmir, India. The NW trending ground fractures occurred largely in the hanging wall zone of the southeastern extension of the causative fault in Tangdhar and Uri sectors. The principal compressive stress deduced from the earthquake induced ground fractures is oriented at N10°, whereas the causative Balakot-Bagh fault strikes 330°. The fault-plane solution indicates primarily SW thrusting of the causative fault with a component of strike-slip motion. The ground fractures reflect pronounced strike-slip together with some tensile component. The Tangdhar area showing left-lateral strike-slip motion lies on the hanging wall, and the Uri region showing right-lateral strike-slip movement is located towards the southeastern extension of the causative fault zone. The shear fractures are related to static stress that was responsible for the failure of causative fault. The tensile fractures with offsets are attributed to combination of both static and dynamic stresses, and the fractures and openings without offsets owe their origin due to dynamic stress. In Punch-Rajouri and Jammu area, which lies on the footwall, the fractures and liquefactions were generated by dynamic stress. The occurrence of liquefaction features in the out board part of the Himalayan range front near Jammu is suggestive of stress transfer not, vert, similar ~230 km southeast of the epicenter. The Balakot-Bagh Fault (BBF), the Muzaffarabad anticline, the rupture zone of causative fault and the zone of aftershocks-all are aligned in a not, vert, similar ~25 km wide belt along the NW-SE trending regional Himalayan strike of Kashmir region and lying between the MBT and the Riasi Thrust (Murree Thrust), suggesting a seismogenic zone that may propagate towards the southeast to trigger an earthquake in the eastern part of the Kashmir region

Redefining Medlicott-Wadia's main boundary fault from Jhelum to Yamuna: an active fault strand of the main boundary thrust in Northwest Himalaya

The MBT demarcates a tectonic boundary between the Tertiary Sub Himalaya and the pre-Tertiary Lesser Himalaya. South of the MBT, another tectonically important fault extends from Muzaffarabad and Riasi in Jammu-Kashmir to Bilaspur and Nahan in Himachal. Medlicott and Wadia had designated this fault the Main Boundary Fault (MBF) in Simla Hills and Jammu region respectively. In between these two areas, later workers gave local-area names to the MBF as the Riasi Thrust in Jammu, Palampur Thrust in Kangra, Bilaspur Thrust in Simla Hills and Nahan Thrust in Sirmur. We have reviewed and established the tectonostratigraphic framework and physical continuity of the lower Tertiary belt and the MBF. The lower Tertiary belt, lying south of the MBT, has characteristic tectonostratigraphic setting with discontinuous bodies of stromatolite-bearing Proterozoic limestone overlain with depositional contact by the Paleocene-lower part Middle Eocene marine Subathu/Patala formation which in turn overlain by the Upper Oligocene-Lower Miocene non-marine Dharamsala/Murree Formation. To avoid confusion with the MBT, we designate collectively the MBF and related faults as the Medlicott-Wadia Thrust (MWT). The MWT extends east of Hazara-Kashmir syntaxis to river Yamuna, covering a distance of not, vert, similar ~700 km. Further east of Yamuna, the lower Tertiary belt pinches out and the MWT merges with the sensuo-stricto MBT. The Proterozoic limestone represents the basement over which the lower Tertiary sediments were deposited. The limestone basement with its cover was detached by the MWT, exhuming to the surface and thrusting over largely the Siwalik group. The reactivated Balakot-Bagh Fault, causative fault for the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, extends southeast with right-step to the Riasi Thrust. The Riasi Thrust shows evidence of reactivation and active tectonic activity in Jammu region. It extends further east to the Palampur Thrust in Kangra reentrant, which lies within the 1905 Kangra earthquake rupture zone. The Bilaspur Thrust, continuation of the Palampur Thrust, shows active faulting south of Simla hills between Sataun and Yamuna River. These observations indicate that the MWT represents a southern strand of the sensuo-stricto MBT and shows active faulting in some segments

Luminescence dating of fluvial and coastal red sediments in the SE coast, India, and implications for paleoenvironmental changes and dune reddening

The Holocene and late Pleistocene environmental history of the teri ('sandy waste' in local parlance) red sands in the southeast coastal Tamil Nadu was examined using remote sensing, stratigraphy, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. Geomorphological surveys enabled the classification of the teri red sands as, 1) inland fluvial teri, 2) coastal teri and, 3) near-coastal teri dunes. The inland teri sediments have higher clay and silty-sand component than the coastal and near-coastal teri, suggesting that these sediments were deposited by the fluvial process during a stronger winter monsoon around > 15 ka. The coastal teri dunes were deposited prior to 11.4 ± 0.9 ka, and the near-coastal dunes aggraded at around 5.6 ± 0.4 ka. We interpret that the coastal dunes were formed during a period of lower relative sea level and the near-coastal dunes formed during a period of higher sea level. Dune reddening is post deposition occurred after 11.4 ± 0.9 ka for the coastal teri dunes and after 5.6 ± 0.4 ka for the near-coastal teri dunes. Presence of microlithic sites associated with the coastal dunes suggest that the cultures existed in the region during 11.4 ± 0.9 ka and 5.6 ± 0.4 ka

Magnetic fabrics indicating Late Quaternary seismicity in the Himalayan foothills

Abstract The anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) study was performed on soft sediment samples from a trenched fault zone across the Himalayan frontal thrust (HFT), western Himalaya. AMS orientation of K min axes in the trench sediments is consistent with lateral shortening revealed by geometry of deformed regional structures and recent earthquakes. Well-defined vertical magnetic foliation parallel to the flexure cleavage in which a vertical magnetic lineation is developed, high anisotropy, and triaxial ellipsoids suggest large overprinting of earthquake-related fabrics. The AMS data suggest a gradual variation from layer parallel shortening (LPS) at a distance from the fault trace to a simple shear fabric close to the fault trace. An abrupt change in the shortening direction (K min ) from NE-SW to E-W suggests a juxtaposition of pre-existing layer parallel shortening fabric, and bendingrelated flexure associated with an earthquake. Hence the orientation pattern of magnetic susceptibility axes helps in identifying co-seismic structures in Late Holocene surface sediments

Magnetic fabrics indicating Late Quaternary seismicity in the Himalayan foothills

The anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) study was performed on soft sediment samples from a trenched fault zone across the Himalayan frontal thrust (HFT), western Himalaya. AMS orientation of K-min axes in the trench sediments is consistent with lateral shortening revealed by geometry of deformed regional structures and recent earthquakes. Well-defined vertical magnetic foliation parallel to the flexure cleavage in which a vertical magnetic lineation is developed, high anisotropy, and triaxial ellipsoids suggest large overprinting of earth-quake- related fabrics. The AMS data suggest a gradual variation from layer parallel shortening (LPS) at a distance from the fault trace to a simple shear fabric close to the fault trace. An abrupt change in the shortening direction (K-min) from NE-SW to E-W suggests a juxtaposition of pre-existing layer parallel shortening fabric, and bending-related flexure associated with an earthquake. Hence the orientation pattern of magnetic susceptibility axes helps in identifying co-seismic structures in Late Holocene surface sediments

8000-year monsoonal record from Himalaya revealing reinforcement of tropical and global climate systems since mid-Holocene

We provide the first continuous Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) climate record for the higher Himalayas (Kedarnath, India) by analyzing a C-14-dated peat sequence covering the last similar to 8000 years, with similar to 50 years temporal resolution. The ISM variability inferred using various proxies reveal striking similarity with the Greenland ice core (GISP2) temperature record and rapid denitrification changes recorded in the sediments off Peru. The Kedarnath record provides compelling evidence for a reorganization of the global climate system taking place at similar to 5.5 ka BP possibly after sea level stabilization and the advent of inter-annual climate variability governed by the modern ENSO phenomenon. The ISM record also captures warm-wet and cold-dry conditions during the Medieval Climate Anomaly and Little Ice Age, respectively

Distribution of the Late-Quaternary deformation in Northwestern Himalaya

International audienceThree main Cenozoic thrusts at the front of Northwestern Himalaya have accommodated most of the India–Eurasia convergence across the belt over the last million years and produced the present relief. Their recent tectonic activity is poorly known because of the long period of inaccessibility of the Jammu and Kashmir state, and because the latest and only large earthquake recorded in the region occurred in 1555 AD. We show where the deformation is localized during the Late-Quaternary, and determine shortening rates across the structures by analyzing the geometry and chronology of geomorphic markers. The Main Boundary Thrust in this region ceased moving at least ∼30 ka ago. On the contrary, the more external Medlicott–Wadia Thrust and Main Frontal Thrust, both merging at depth on the sub-flat detachment of the Main Himalayan Thrust, exhibit hectometric-scale deformations accumulated during the last thousands of years. The total shortening rate absorbed by these faults over the last 14–24 ka is between 13.2 and 27.2 mm/yr ( and , respectively). Part of this deformation may be associated to the geometry of the Chenab reentrant, which could generate an extra oblique component. However, the lower bound of our shortening rates is consistent with previously determined geodetic rates. Active deformation on these structures follows an in-sequence/out-of-sequence pattern, with breaking of both ramps being possible for earthquakes triggered on the main detachment

Mapping of active faults in the Dehradun valley using Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR), NW Garhwal Himalaya, India

International Symposium on Mountain Building and Climate-Tectonic Interactio

Paleoseismological evidence of surface faulting along the northeastern Himalayan front, India: Timing, size, and spatial extent of great earthquakes

The similar to 2500 km long Himalayan arc has experienced three large to great earthquakes of M-w 7.8 to 8.4 during the past century, but none produced surface rupture. Paleoseismic studies have been conducted during the last decade to begin understanding the timing, size, rupture extent, return period, and mechanics of the faulting associated with the occurrence of large surface rupturing earthquakes along the similar to 2500 km long Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT) system of India and Nepal. The previous studies have been limited to about nine sites along the western two-thirds of the HFT extending through northwest India and along the southern border of Nepal. We present here the results of paleoseismic investigations at three additional sites further to the northeast along the HFT within the Indian states of West Bengal and Assam. The three sites reside between the meizoseismal areas of the 1934 Bihar-Nepal and 1950 Assam earthquakes. The two westernmost of the sites, near the village of Chalsa and near the Nameri Tiger Preserve, show that offsets during the last surface rupture event were at minimum of about 14 m and 12 m, respectively. Limits on the ages of surface rupture at Chalsa (site A) and Nameri (site B), though broad, allow the possibility that the two sites record the same great historical rupture reported in Nepal around A.D. 1100. The correlation between the two sites is supported by the observation that the large displacements as recorded at Chalsa and Nameri would most likely be associated with rupture lengths of hundreds of kilometers or more and are on the same order as reported for a surface rupture earthquake reported in Nepal around A.D. 1100. Assuming the offsets observed at Chalsa and Nameri occurred synchronously with reported offsets in Nepal, the rupture length of the event would approach 700 to 800 km. The easternmost site is located within Harmutty Tea Estate (site C) at the edges of the 1950 Assam earthquake meizoseismal area. Here the most recent event offset is relatively much smaller (<2.5 m), and radiocarbon dating shows it to have occurred after A.D. 1100 (after about A.D. 1270). The location of the site near the edge of the meizoseismal region of the 1950 Assam earthquake and the relatively lesser offset allows speculation that the displacement records the 1950 M-w 8.4 Assam earthquake. Scatter in radiocarbon ages on detrital charcoal has not resulted in a firm bracket on the timing of events observed in the trenches. Nonetheless, the observations collected here, when taken together, suggest that the largest of thrust earthquakes along the Himalayan arc have rupture lengths and displacements of similar scale to the largest that have occurred historically along the world's subduction zones