Abstract
The NE–SW trending Mahendragarh–Dehradun Fault (MDF) is a basement fault in the western Ganga plain. The earthquake (4.7 mb) epicentered on this fault on 2nd June 2017 was focused around 10 km depth and does not show any surface rupture. Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) survey around the epicenter detects few shallow-depth subsurface normal faults parallel to the MDF. However, it is unclear whether these normal faults are linked with the 2017 earthquake or other previous earthquakes. Seismic record (USGS) since 1975 to 2017 suggests occurrence of 22 earthquakes (~ 5 mb) around the MDF and majority (~ 63%) of these are clustered around Delhi and Rohtak. Following the 2017 earthquake, frequency of earthquakes occurence sharply increased than previously recorded instrumentation period from 1975 to 1995. Majority of the seismicity is focused around 10 km depths, shallowing to depths of 25–207 km recorded from 1975 to 2004. Earthquakes clustered along the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT) shows similar temporal trend as near the MDF. Southward thrust movement of the Himalaya orogenic wedge predicts to impose strike-slip motion on the orthogonal-oriented steep basement faults, which is consistent with geologic and geomorphic field relations, and seismicity focal mechanisms along the MDF. The observed upper crustal deformation associated with such fault deformation pattern may be partly influenced by the MDF and partly by the foreland bulge seismicity. Potential tectono-geomorphic parameters and soil-chronosequence may suggest the surface deformation is active through the Holocene.
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Acknowledgements
We sincerely acknowledge the criticism and constructive suggestions made by the reviewers and the editor for the improvement of this manuscript. The authors are grateful to anonymous reviewers for thorough reading and comments on the early draft of this manuscript. We highly appreciate Dr. Yan Gavillot and Dr. Bernard Delcaillau for their thorough reviews. We extends our special thanks to Dr. Yan Gavillot for patiently reading and improving the manuscript up to the publishing level in this journal. We are grateful to Prof. W. Christian Dullo for editorial handling and to Monika Dullo for managing support to the journal. Our thanks further extended to topic editor Dr. David McNamara. Thanks to SRC chairman Prof. R. Krishnamurthy, Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee for his constant support and motivation. This research was financially supported by Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), India.
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Patel, N.K., Pati, P., Verma, A.K. et al. Seismicity around the Mahendragarh–Dehradun basement fault in the western Ganga plain, India: a neotectonic perspective. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 109, 689–706 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-020-01826-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-020-01826-8