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a Space–depth distribution of earthquakes falling in AB section (Fig. 2) along with depth-projected view of major tectonic features, e.g. JMT, PMT, MBT, PT, CT, CNF and Chamba Basin (after Kumar et al. 2009). b The depth-projected view of inferred fault planes, and the integers adjacent to nodal plane bars are the earthquake events corresponding to Table 1
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The seismotectonic of the Kangra–Chamba region, the source zone of the 1905 great Kangra earthquake (M 8.0), has been studied analysing about 350 local earthquakes recorded by broadband seismological network under operation in NW Himalaya. The study reveals that the seismic activity is concentrated to the north of surface trace of the Main Boundary...
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Keywords Seismicity and tectonics in and around Kinnaur Himalaya, the seat of the 1975 Kinnaur earthquake (Ms ~6.8; Mw 6.8), have been studied through microearthquake activity, focal mechanisms and stress tensor inversion. About 400 earthquakes with magnitude range 1.0-5.0 Mc (coda magnitude) recorded during 2008-2011 by 14 broadband seismic statio...
Seismicity fluctuations in time and space have been observed before several major earthquakes of the world. Precursors are indications before the occurrence of main event. Seismic precursors are a set of events occurring in an area over an interval of time which may continue to several months without any outstanding principal earthquake. In the pre...
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In this study, rate and state Coulomb stress transfer model is adopted to forecast the seismicity rate of earthquakes (MW ≥ 5) in the north-west Himalaya region within the testing period 2011–2013. Coulomb stress changes (ΔCFF), considered to be the most critical parameter in the model, exhibit stress increase in the whole study region, excluding t...
The Himalaya is seismically a high-risk zone and several earthquakes in the recent past in the Himalaya have caused extensive loss of life and property. As millions of people reside in the foothills of the Himalaya and will be severely affected during future earthquakes, it is important to understand the mechanics of these earthquakes. High-precisi...
ABSTRACT: Richly carved monolithic temples, located near Masrur in Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh, is
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Citations
... The earthquake epicenters in our study region predominantly occur along the major thrust faults MBT, MCT, STD, LT, and Walong Thurst. Further, similarity to the seismicity along major thrust zones such as MBT and MCT in western Himalaya (Yadav et al., 2009(Yadav et al., , 2016, the epicenters are aligned more or less along the present-day tectonic fault/lineaments in this part of the eastern Himalayan region. The distribution of the hypocenter of events is shallower than 60 km from January 2019 through December 2021 while the same is shown in different depth ranges Fig. 2b. ...
The Siang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh, North-East India, is one of the seismotectonically active region that lie in the eastern Himalayan Syntaxis (EHS); we have investigated seismicity, fault plane solutions (FPS) and P (Pressure) axis orientation in this region. We have analyzed 756 local earthquakes of magnitude range (1.0 ≤ ML ≤ 5.9) in the region during the period from January 2019 to December 2021. From the spatial distribution of local seismicity, it is estimated that the concentration of seismicity is in Namcha-Barwa, western and eastern flanks of Siang Antiform, respectively. The depth distribution of seismicity extends upto a focal depth of 60 km with a higher concentration in the upper crustal part. Further, we determined 15 fault plane solutions (FPS) using waveform inversions (ISOLA) for events with a magnitude range of 3.5 to 5.9. The waveform inversion has been performed for the events with maximum azimuthal coverage. The frequency band used for the inversion is in the 0.01–0.1 Hz range corresponding to the maximum signal to noise ratio to precise crustal velocity structures, hypocenter positions, and appropriate frequency ranges were used to obtain reliable FPS. The FPS obtained for the shallow focused earthquakes shows Normal faulting with Strike-slip components. The compressional axes orientations of the thrust FPS show a north-east direction. The intense seismic activity and compressional axis orientation in this study area is due to the collision between Indian and Eurasian plate in the north and and east-ward subduction of Indian plate below the Burmese plate.
... In the Himalayas, thrust type earthquakes are dominant due to the under thrusting of the Indian plate beneath the overriding Himalayan wedge Ni and Barazangi, 1984;Molnar, 1990). Conversely, there are numerous events with normal fault mechanisms within the thrust-controlled Himalayan arc (Ni and Barazangi, 1984;Arora et al., 2012;Yadav et al., 2016). ...
... Usually, the Himalayan region is dominated by earthquakes with thrust faulting which is explained by the under-thrusting of the Indian plate beneath the overriding wedge of the Himalaya (e.g., Seeber and Armbruster, 1981;Ni and Barazangi, 1984;Molnar, 1990). Oblique thrust and normal faulting mechanisms are also reported within the thrust-dominated Himalayan arc indicating a complex tectonic setting (Ni and Barazangi, 1984;Kayal, 2001;Yadav et al., 2016). ...
Seismic anisotropy in the crust beneath the Satluj valley and the adjoining region of the northwest Himalaya has been studied with the help of shear wave splitting analysis of P-to-S or Ps converted phases originating at the crust-mantle boundary. A total of 144 splitting parameters (Φ, δt) have been computed from 130 teleseismic earthquakes recorded by 13 broadband seismological stations spanning from the Lesser Himalaya to Tethyan Himalaya passing across the Satluj valley region. The predominant NW-SE fast polarization directions (FPDs) in the Lesser and Higher Himalaya follow the strike of surface geological features suggesting structural anisotropy. The NW-SE oriented FPDs in the Tethyan Himalaya fairly coincide with the regional extensional strain. The presence of such extensional strain within the crust might cause Lattice Preferred Orientation (LPO) of anisotropic minerals resulting in observed anisotropy. The large strength of anisotropy (δt: 0.15-0.80 s) suggests a primary contribution of anisotropy from the middle and lower crust. These observations support the assumption that the deep crust in the study region has undergone widespread and relatively uniform strain in response to crustal shortening and E-W extension.
... In the present work, the western IECZ representing complex and diverse tectonic setup has been chosen to study the stress distribution and its kinematics and implication on seismotectonics of the region. Few studies have attempted to image the stress field of western IECZ with the available Focal Mechanism (FM) solutions in the smaller areas within the western IECZ (Gahalaut & Rao, 2009;Mahesh et al., 2015;Prasath et al., 2017;Yadav et al., 2016;Yadav et al., 2017). Mahesh et al. (2015) have used a good number of Focal Mechanism (FM) solutions for the Garhwal-Kumaun Himalaya, however, some of their solutions included earthquakes of magnitudes M < 2.0 as low as M L 1.5, which raise concerns on the reliability of these solutions and the resultant stress field. ...
... However, they used only events located within their network limits. For Kinnaur-Chamba region, Yadav et al. (2016Yadav et al. ( , 2017 obtained the stress field using a catalogue of FM solutions, compiled from different sources and some of their own solutions. The study by Gahalaut and Rao (2009) estimated the principal stress orientations for the earthquakes from epicentral area of the Kashmir earthquake (Hazara Syntaxis) and inferred the stress field of this region to be different from the stress fields observed in the Himalayan region. ...
... The catalogue of FM solutions used in this study is compiled from the earlier published records and from the Global Centroid Moment Tensor (GCMT) catalogue (Baranowski et al., 1984;Chandra, 1978;Chaudhury et al., 1974;Das Gupta et al., 1982;Dziewonski et al., 1981;Ekström et al., 2012;Gahalaut & Rao, 2009;Hazarika et al., 2017;Hajra et al., 2021;Kanna et al., 2018;Khan et al., 2014;Kumar et al., 2009;Kumar et al., 2015;Mahesh et al., 2015;Molnar & Chen, 1983;Molnar & Lyon-Caent, 1989;Molnar & Tapponnier, 1978;Molnar et al., 1973;Negi et al., 2017;Parija et al., 2018;Paul et al., 2018;Prasath et al., 2017;Ram et al., 2005;Singh et al., 2018;Hajra et al., 2021;Srivastava et al., 1987;Tandon and Srivastava, 1975;Verma & Kumar, 1987;Verma & Shekar, 1986;Verma et al., 2015;Yadav et al., 2016;Yadav et al., 2017). We prepared the catalogue following a three-step process. ...
... The general stress pattern observed in overall Kumaon Himalaya shows the principal stress direction (σ 1 ) following a NE-SW trend with a low plunge value. This is in accordance with the direction of the India-Eurasia plate convergence and indicates a highly compressive regime (Prasath et al., 2017;Yadav et al., 2016). A significant change in stress is observed between the ILH and OLH groups of earthquakes. ...
The Kumaon Himalaya lies in the central seismic gap and therefore bears the potential to host a great Himalayan earthquake. The seismicity and seismotectonics of the Kumaon Himalaya and the adjacent region have been investigated based on local earthquake data recorded at 18 seismological stations. The seismically active zone of the eastern segment of the Kumaon Himalaya deviates from the usual pattern of seismicity in the Himalayan Seismic Belt of the NW Himalaya. Shallow-focus earthquakes in this region largely concentrate in the Chiplakot Crystalline Belt (CCB) immediately south of the Vaikrita Thrust. The Focal Mechanism Solutions of 41 earthquakes computed through waveform inversion technique along with the solutions of 12 earthquakes obtained from the Global Centroid Moment Tensor solution catalog are used to investigate the kinematics of the region. The study reveals a complex faulting pattern in the Inner Lesser Himalaya. The stress inversion results show a widely distributed stress pattern and low frictional coefficient which are attributed as one of the major causes of clustered seismicity observed in the CCB. Careful examination of the fault orientations indicates the presence of a hinterland dipping Lesser Himalayan Duplex over the ramp structure on the Main Himalayan Thrust. The high compressive stress and deformation rate in the CCB are partially accommodated by this duplex structure. The large concentration of shallow-focus earthquakes in the CCB is the result of the presence of fluid-rich zone as well as strain localization and large stress build-up due to locking in the ramp structure on the Main Himalayan Thrust beneath the CCB.
... Pandey et al. (2016) found low to moderate seismicity in between PT and KW at the shallow depth upto 16 km in the Chenab valley. In the adjoining Kangra-Chamba region majority of small magnitude events are also highly concentrated along the MBT, PT, Chamba Thrust (CT) and CNF (Yadav et al., 2016). In the study region, the rocks belonging to the upper part of the crust have a low strength of strain accumulation in which the rocks go through brittle fracturing. ...
... The stress magnitude R = 0.88 with azimuth and plunge of N227.3° and N13.9° for r 1 , N323.5° and N23.7° for r 2 , and N109.5° and N62° for r 3 (ID 1 in Fig. 5 and Table 3). The results are closely placed with the results produced by earlier studies like Khattri et al. (1989) for the Garhwal Himalaya, Yadav et al. (2009) for NW Himalaya, Mahesh et al. (2015) for adjacent Kumaun as well the Garhwal Himalaya, and Yadav et al. (2016) for the Kangra-Chamba region. The result of stress inversion for W, NE, NE (8-17 km depth zone), and MCT zone (IDs 2, 3, 5 and 8) are well constrained and show nearly similar trend of r 1-3 with the results of whole region (Fig. 5 and Table 3 Table 3. (R = 0.4), while all other inversions having high R values (>0.7), hence, suggesting the influence of localized stress field beneath the Chamoli region. ...
... The earlier studies of seismicity and seismotectonics in this region were based on observation of higher magnitude earthquakes recorded at regional distance stations (e.g., Molnar et al., 1973;Chandra, 1978;Seeber et al., 1981;Baranowski et al., 1984;Ni and Barazangi, 1984;Molnar, 1990;Ambraseys and Bilham, 2000;Kumar and Mahajan, 2001;Avouac, 2003;Arora et al., 2012;Mitra et al., 2014). A few local earthquake studies, which were carried out in this region using local seismic networks were mainly confined to the south of the Southern Tibet Detachment and especially in and around the source region of the 1905 Kangra earthquake (e.g., Kumar et al., 2009;Yadav et al., 2016). Almost no local earthquake study had been carried in the Tethys and Ladakh Himalaya, till a very recent study by Hazarika et al. (2017). ...
... Spatially, the seismicity is mostly distributed throughout the study area and indicating active tectonics in this region. The observed seismicity pattern is quite different from the well-defined seismicity pattern to either side of the study region (e.g., Kumar 2013; Mitra et al., 2014;Yadav et al., 2016;Hazarika et al., 2017). We also observe that, in depth the earthquakes are distributed throughout in the crust and upper mantle in the Himalayan segment; whereas in the Ladakh and Karakoram regions, the earthquakes are mostly confined up to crustal depths as the crustal thicknesses are greater in these regions (Rai et al., 2006). ...
We document the seismic activity and fault plane solutions (FPSs) in the Western Himalaya, Ladakh and Karakoram using data from 16 broadband seismographs operated during June 2002 to December 2003. We locate 206 earthquakes with a local magnitude in the range of 1.5 to 4.9 and calculate FPSs of 19 selected earthquakes based on moment tensor solutions. The earthquakes are distributed throughout the study region and indicate active tectonics in this region. The observed seismicity pattern is quite different than a well-defined pattern of seismicity, along the Main Central Thrust zone, in the eastern side of the study region (i.e., Kumaon-Garhwal Himalaya). In the Himalaya region, the earthquakes are distributed in the crust and upper mantle, whereas in the Ladakh-Karakoram area the earthquakes are mostly confined up to crustal depths. The fault plane solutions show a mixture of thrust, normal and strike-slip type mechanisms, which are well corroborated with the known faults/tectonics of the region. The normal fault earthquakes are observed along the Southern Tibet Detachment, Zanskar Shear Zone, Tso-Morari dome, and Kaurik-Chango fault; and suggest E-W extension tectonics in the Higher and Tethys Himalaya. The earthquakes of thrust mechanism with the left-lateral strike-slip component are seen along the Kistwar fault. The right-lateral strike-slip faulting with thrust component along the bending of the Main Boundary Thrust and Main Central Thrust shows the transpressional tectonics in this part of the Himalaya. The observed earthquakes with right-lateral strike-slip faulting indicate seismically active nature of the Karakoram fault.
... Zoback et al. (1980) Mining and Technology, No. 11 Xueyuan road, 100083 Beijing, China e-mail: crazylinchen@163.com the variation in shear stress with distance from the fault in relatively shallow wells. Tectonism and stress states in active structural areas are strongly related to the regional and local stresses (Zeng and Liu 2009;Yadav et al. 2016;Terakawa et al. 2013;Bonini 2012), providing constraints for the orientation of faults and fractures and location of fault slip burst. Fault slip burst may be caused by a significant stress redistribution and rotation due to mining-induced stress and in situ stress around mine openings. ...
This study examines the relationships between the structural elements, stress state and fault slip at the No. 8 mine in the Pingdingshan area, northern China. Based on a geological environment investigation of the field and the structural setting of the mine, two tectonic zones are identified as hosts to numerous fault slip events. The spatial distribution of events is closely linked to horst structures, but different types of horst structures may represent different mechanisms of fault dynamic fault behavior. Almost all of the fault slip events are concentrated in the region with steep orebody dip gradients, and the radius of curvature shows an impressive correlation with the cumulative occurrence of fault slip. Geophysical information of fault surfaces is used for stress reconstruction to estimate the orientation of the principal stresses. The results obtained from this analysis show that the principal stress oriented NNE–NE exerts the primary control in the western region of the field, yet the principal stress oriented NWW–NW strongly influences the middle region of the field. The analysis conducted here may be easily applied to other underground developments in structural zones and may show a positive effect on assessment of fault slip hazard.
... N62°for r 3 (ID 1 in Fig. 5 and Table 3). The results are closely placed with the results produced by earlier studies like Khattri et al. (1989) for the Garhwal Himalaya, Yadav et al. (2009) for NW Himalaya, Mahesh et al. (2015) for adjacent Kumaun as well the Garhwal Himalaya, and Yadav et al. (2016) for the Kangra-Chamba region. The result of stress inversion for W, NE, NE (8-17 km depth zone), and MCT zone (IDs 2, 3, 5 and 8) are well constrained and show nearly similar trend of r 1-3 with the results of trail 1 (Fig. 5 and Table 3 Table 3. the low stress magnitude (R = 0.4), while all other inversions having high R values (>0.7), hence, suggesting the influence of localized stress field beneath the Chamoli region. ...
The work presents new focal-mechanism data of small-to-moderate (3.0⩾ML⩽5.0) upper crustal earthquakes for the Garhwal Himalaya from a local seismic network installed in July, 2007. Majority of the epicenters of these earthquakes are located close to the Main Central Thrust (MCT) zone. We retrieved Moment Tensor (MT) solutions of 26 earthquakes by waveform inversion. The MT results and 11 small-to-moderate earthquakes from the published records are used for stress inversions. The MT solutions reveal dominatingly thrust mechanisms with few strike slip earthquakes near Chamoli. The seismic cross sections illustrate that, these earthquakes are located around the Mid-Crustal-Ramp (MCR) in the detachment. The optimally oriented faults from stress inversions suggest that, the seismogenic fault in this region is similar to a fault plane having dip angle between 12 and 25 degrees, which is compatible with the dip angle of the MCR (∼16°) in this region. P-axes and the maximum horizontal compressive stresses are NE-SW oriented; the direction of the relative motion of Indian plate with respect to the Eurasian plate. The Friction Coefficient estimated from stress inversions show that the Chamoli region having low friction in comparison to the overall values. The free fluids trapped beneath the detachment are penetrating into the local faults, hence, decreasing the frictional strength and altering the prevailing stress conditions of the surroundings. The present study reveals that the MCR structure is seismogenically active and producing the small-moderate earthquakes in the region, while the MCT is probably dormant at present.
