Paleo-earthquake signatures from the South Wagad Fault (SWF), Wagad Island, Kachchh, Gujarat, western India: A potential seismic hazard

Holocene surface-rupturing paleo-earthquakes along the Kachchh Mainland Fault: shaping the seismic landscape of Kachchh, Western India

“…Many thorough paleoseismic studies have been conducted in different continental interiors, including the Rhine graben in Germany, the Bohemian Massif in Czech Republic, Central Asia, Australia and the New Madrid in the USA, have identified the evidence of paleo-earthquakes having recurrence intervals (RI) from a thousand to over ten thousand years 74 – 86 . Based on the evidence of paleo-earthquake identified in our trenches as well as the previous paleoseismic studies (Table 3 ), we suggests that the Kachchh is one of the most seismically active intraplate regions in the world having RI of about 2000 years 9 , 33 – 35 . This is also consistent with the short-term convergence rate of ~ 3 mm/year reported from the continuous GPS measurement from the Kachchh and its adjoining areas 49 .…”

“…Historically, the 1819 Allah Bund earthquake was the most significant event, creating a 80–90 km long fault scarp with variable height of 4–6 m 4 , 5 . Its magnitude, estimated to be between Mw 7.6 and Mw 8.2, is debated due to limited data on uplift and subsidence 3 , 5 , 8 , 35 , 48 , 49 . The 1956 Anjar earthquake (Mw 6.1), originated near the JA, probably along a segment of the KMF, at the northern boundary of the Kachchh upland (Fig.…”

“…Instrumental seismicity in the region has been notably characterized by the earthquake swarms around the Bhuj epicentral area since the major 2001 event 35 . Seismological data from 2000 to 2020 includes several earthquakes with magnitudes ranging from Mw 4 to the main shock of Mw 7.6, with focal depths ranging between 10 and 40 km, primarily near the KMF and SWF 46 , 54 , 55 .…”

Introduction to Geology of the Kachchh (Kutch) Basin, Western India

“…The youthfulness of the topography in terms of neotectonics is characterized by young features like fault scarps, receding scarps, deep bedrock gorges, caves, canyons, triangular facets, mountain fronts, deep valley incisions, warpings, gullied surface, meanders, offset, deflected and anastomosing drainages, knick points. The Quaternary tectonic activities along various faults of the Kutch Basin is also confirmed by implementing Neotectonic, tectono-geomorphic and paleoseismic, GIS, and Remote sensing aspects (Thakkar et al 1999(Thakkar et al , 2001(Thakkar et al , 2012a(Thakkar et al , b, 2018a(Thakkar et al , b, 2020aRajendran and Rajendran 2001;Maurya et al 2003aMaurya et al , b, c, 2008Maurya et al , 2013Maurya et al , 2016Patidar et al 2007;Malik et al 2008Malik et al , 2017Prizomwala et al 2014aPrizomwala et al , b, 2016aPrizomwala et al , b, 2019Goyal et al 2015;Kothyari et al 2015Kothyari et al , 2016aKothyari et al , b, c, 2018Kothyari et al , 2019Kothyari et al , 2020aKothyari et al , b, 2021Das et al 2016aDas et al , b, 2017Das et al , 2020Padmalal et al 2019;Bhattacharya et al 2019;Dumka et al 2019;Shaikh et al 2019Shaikh et al , 2020Kandregula et al 2020Kandregula et al , 2021Lakhote et al 2020a, b;Rajendran et al 2020;Mishra et al 2020, Jani et al 2021. Dumka et al (2019) worked out a Global Positioning Syste...…”

Geodetic Evidence of High Compression Across Seismically Active Kachchh Paleorift, India

“…In the past 200 years major and strong earthquakes in the region, in addition to the 2001 Bhuj earthquake, occurred in 1819 (Mw 7.7 Allah Bund earthquake, Bilham, ) and 1956 (Mw 6.0 Anjar earthquake, Chung & Gao, ) and probably three strong earthquakes of Mw ~6 in 1845 in Lakhpat (Malik et al, ; Quitmeyer & Jacob, ). All of them occurred within ~100 km from the 2001 Bhuj earthquake and are associated with the Kachchh paleorift (Gangopadhyay & Talwani, ; Malik et al, ). Despite several previous large earthquakes in the region, our understanding of the Kachchh paleorift and its hazard potential is very limited.…”