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Tectonic forcing of drainages and geomorphic features developed across Himalayan mountain frontal part of western limb of Siang Antiform, Arunachal Himalaya

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Abstract

Drainages display tectonic forcing of their channels on the frontal region of the Arunachal Himalaya due to structural control. Dikari, a transverse river flowing along the N–S trending western limb of the major Siang Antiform, exhibits structurally controlled nature of its drainage on its downstream flow towards south, through a network of NE–SW and NW–SE trending conjugate faults. The river shows compressed meandering as the regional structural trend of ENE–WSW seems to be reactivated by the transverse NW–SE trend of neotectonic fault activity. The Himalayan frontal thrust (HFT) tracing along the Himalaya mountain front has been displaced sinisterly for a distance of ~7 km by a WNW–ESE trending fault running along the Sileng stream. Development of parallel drainages in the southern part of the Sub-Himalaya is interpreted to have formed as a result of uplifting related to the above-mentioned strike-slip movement. Along the HFT zone, the frontal streams and rivers exhibit deflection of their channels from NE–SW to ENE–WSW directions. Channel of the transverse Siang river has been deflected for a length of 3 km along the NNE–SSW direction across the Himalayan frontal part. In this part of the Himalaya, previous workers did not give much emphasis on the role of Siang Antiform as far as neotectonic with respect to the tectonics related to the HFT is concerned. There is a syntectonic relationship between the active NE–SW-oriented compression direction and the tectonic forcing of the drainages including development of the tectonic geomorphology.

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Acknowledgments

This paper is an outcome of the Project No. SR/WOS-A/ES-04/2011, sponsored by the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi. The authors are grateful to Dr. D. Ramaiah, Director, North East Institute of Science and Technology, Jorhat, Assam, for providing the necessary facilities, encouragement, and support. SSB thanks Dr. A. K. Gupta, Director, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, for his kind encouragement and support. R.K.M.D. thanks husband Mr. Kh. Deben Singh for his kind encouragement and support. We thank Mr. V. Sriram of WIHG for valuable comments.

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  1. Geoscience Division, North-East Institute of Science & Technology, Jorhat, 785006, India

    R. K. Mrinalinee Devi, M. K. Phukan & R. Duarah

  2. Structure & Tectonics, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248001, India

    S. S. Bhakuni

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  1. R. K. Mrinalinee Devi
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Devi, R.K.M., Bhakuni, S.S., Phukan, M.K. et al. Tectonic forcing of drainages and geomorphic features developed across Himalayan mountain frontal part of western limb of Siang Antiform, Arunachal Himalaya. Environ Earth Sci 75, 413 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-015-5081-4

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