To provide a detailed record of a relatively rare thrust surface rupture and examine its active tectonic implications, we have conducted field mapping of the surface rupture associated with the 2005 M w 7.6 Kashmir earthquake. Despite the difficulty arising from massive earthquake-induced landslides along the surface rupture, we found that typical pressure ridges and warps extend northwestward for a distance of ∼70 km, with a northeast-side-up vertical separation of up to ∼7 m. Neither the main frontal thrust nor the main boundary thrust is responsible for the earthquake, but three active faults or fault segments within the Sub-Himalaya, collectively called the Balakot-Bagh fault, compose the causative fault. Although the fault exhibits substantial geomorphic expression of repeated similar surface ruptures, only a part of it had been mapped as active before the earthquake. The location of the hypocenter suggests that the rupture was initiated at a deep portion of the northern-central segment boundary and propagated bilaterally to eventually break all three segments. Our obtained surface rupture traces and the along-strike-slip distribution are both in good agreement with results of prompt analyses of satellite images, indicating that space geodesy can greatly aid in time-consuming field mapping of surface ruptures. Assuming that the extensive fill terrace in the meizoseismal area was abandoned during 10-30 ka, we tentatively estimate the earthquake recurrence interval and shortening rate on the Balakot-Bagh fault to be 1000-3300 yr and 1:4-4:1 mm=yr, respectively. These estimates indicate that the Balakot-Bagh fault is not a main player of Himalayan contraction accommodation. Ⓔ Selected field photographs and ArcGIS files of the mapped surface rupture traces and measured vertical separations are available in the electronic edition of BSSA.Online Material: Field photographs and ArcGIS files of surface rupture traces and vertical separations.
22p.International audienceThe 8 October 2005 Kashmir earthquake ruptured an out-of-sequence Himalayan thrust known as the Balakot-Bagh thrust. The earthquake's hypocenter was located at a depth of 15 km on the ramp close to a possible ramp/flat transition. In the weeks following the earthquake a GPS network was installed to measure postseismic displacement. The initial measurements in November 2005 were followed by other campaigns in January and August 2006, in March and December 2007, and in August 2008 and 2009. Two hypotheses were tested: post-seismic displacements controlled by viscous relaxation of the lower crust or by afterslip along a flat north of the ramp affected by the main shock. A single Newtonian viscosity for the different periods cannot be determined by numerical simulations of viscous relaxation, which may indicate that the viscosity of the lower crust is non-Newtonian or that viscous relaxation does not control postseismic displacements. Numerical simulations using dislocations in a uniform elastic half-space indicate afterslip north of the ramp of the earthquake along a flat connected to the ramp. Slip along the northwestern portion of the flat accrued to about 285 mm between November 2005 and August 2006, while slip along the southeastern portion accrued to 130 mm over the same time period. Residual misfit of the observed and predicted displacements clearly indicated that afterslip is a better explanation for the observations than the hypothesis of viscous relaxation. The time evolution of the afterslip was found to be consistent with that predicted from rate-strengthening frictional sliding
Episodic GPS measurements are used to quantify the present-day velocity field in the northwestern Himalaya from the southern Pamir to the Himalayan foreland. We report large postseismic displacements following the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and several mm/yr thrusting of the central segment of the Salt Ranges and Potwar Plateau over the foreland, westward thrusting of Nanga Parbat above the Kohistan Plateau, and~12 mm/yr SSE velocities of the Karakorum Ranges and of the Deosai and Kohistan Plateaus relative to the Indian Plate. Numerical simulations allow to determine a first approximation of slip along active faults: (1) substantial creep of~87 mm/yr between 2006 and 2012 along the flat northeast of the Balakot-Bagh Thrust affected by the 2005 earthquake; (2)~5 mm/yr slip of the central segment of the Salt Ranges and Potwar Plateau, whereas their western boundaries are clearly inactive over the time span covered by our measurements; (3) 13 mm/yr ductile slip along the Main Himalayan Thrust modeled by a dislocation dipping 7°northward, locked at a depth of 15 km; and (4)~20 mm/yr slip along the shear zone forming the western boundary of Nanga Parbat, between depths of 1.6 and 6.5 km. Residuals velocities suggest the existence of left-lateral strike slip along the Jhelum Fault.
We used episodic GNSS measurements to quantify the present-day velocity field in the northwestern Himalaya from the Himalayan foreland to the Karakoram Range. We report a progressive N-S compressional velocity gradient with two noticeable exceptions: in the Salt Range, where important southward velocities are recorded, and in Nanga Parbat, where an asymmetrical E-W velocity gradient is recorded. A review of Quaternary slip along active thrusts both in and out of sequence allows us to propose a 14 mm/yr shortening rate. This constraint, together with a geometrical model of the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT), allows us to propose estimations of the slip distributions along the active faults. The lower flat of the MHT is characterized by ductile slip, whereas the coupling increases along the crustal ramp and along the upper flat of the MHT. The basal thrust of the Potwar Plateau and Salt Range presents weak coupling, which is interpreted as the existence of a massive salt layer forming an excellent décollement. In the central part of the frontal Salt Range, the velocities suggest the existence of a southward horizontal flux in the massive salt layer. The simulations also suggest that the velocities recorded in Nanga Parbat can be explained by active westward thrusting along the fault that borders the massif to the west. Simulations suggest that the slip along this fault evolves with depth from 5 mm/yr ductile slip near the MHT to no slip along the upper part of the fault.
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