Active tectonics in the Assam seismic gap between the meizoseismal zone of AD 1934 and 1950 earthquakes along eastern Himalayan front, India
Arjun Pandey Ishwar Singh Rajeeb Lochan Mishra Priyanka Singh Rao Hari B Srivastava R Jayangondaperumal
Click here to view fulltext PDF
Permanent link:
https://www.ias.ac.in/article/fulltext/jess/127/05/0066
The Assam Seismic Gap has witnessed a long seismic quiescence since the Mw∼8.4 great Assam earthquake of AD 1950. Owing to its improper connectivity over the last decades, this segment of the Himalaya has long remained inadequately explored by geoscientists. Recent geodetic measurements inthe eastern Himalaya using GPS document a discrepancy between the geologic and geodetic convergence rates. West to east increase in convergence rate added with shorter time span earthquakes like the 1697 Sadiya, 1714 (Mw∼8) Bhutan and 1950 (Mw∼8.4) Tibet–Assam, makes this discrepancy more compositeand crucial in terms of seismic hazard assessment. To understand the scenario of palaeoearthquake surface rupturing and deformation of youngest landforms between the meizoseismal areas of Mw∼8.1 1934 and 1950 earthquakes, the area between the Manas and Dhanshiri Rivers along the Himalayan Frontal Thrust(HFT) was traversed. The general deformation pattern reflects north-dipping thrust faults. However, back facing scarps were also observed in conjugation to the discontinuous scarps along the frontal thrust. Preliminary mapping along with the published literature suggests that, in the eastern Himalayan front the deformation is taking place largely by the thrust sheet translation without producing a prominent fault-related folds, unlike that of the central and western Himalayas.
Arjun Pandey1 2 Ishwar Singh1 Rajeeb Lochan Mishra1 3 Priyanka Singh Rao3 Hari B Srivastava2 R Jayangondaperumal1
Volume 131, 2022
All articles
Continuous Article Publishing mode
Click here for Editorial Note on CAP Mode
© 2021-2022 Indian Academy of Sciences, Bengaluru.