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Active tectonics of Himalayan Frontal Fault system

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Abstract

In the Sub-Himalayan zone, the frontal Siwalik range abuts against the alluvial plain with an abrupt physiographic break along the Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT), defining the present-day tectonic boundary between the Indian plate and the Himalayan orogenic prism. The frontal Siwalik range is characterized by large active anticline structures, which were developed as fault propagation and fault-bend folds in the hanging wall of the HFT. Fault scarps showing surface ruptures and offsets observed in excavated trenches indicate that the HFT is active. South of the HFT, the piedmont zone shows incipient growth of structures, drainage modification, and 2–3 geomorphic depositional surfaces. In the hinterland between the HFT and the MBT, reactivation and out-of-sequence faulting displace Late Quaternary–Holocene sediments. Geodetic measurements across the Himalaya indicate a ~100-km-wide zone, underlain by the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT), between the HFT and the main microseismicity belt to north is locked. The bulk of shortening, 15–20 mm/year, is consumed aseismically at mid-crustal depth through ductile by creep. Assuming the wedge model, reactivation of the hinterland faults may represent deformation prior to wedge attaining critical taper. The earthquake surface ruptures, ≥240 km in length, interpreted on the Himalayan mountain front through paleoseismology imply reactivation of the HFT and may suggest foreland propagation of the thrust belt.

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Acknowledgments

I thank the Director of the WIHG for providing the logistic support. The work is an outcome of financial support provided for various projects by the DST, Government of India. Thanks are due to W C Dullo and Monika Dullo for editorial support and Delores Robinson, Soumyajit Mukherjee, and an anonymous reviewer for comments in revising the manuscript. Mayank Joshi assisted in preparing the manuscript and illustrations.

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Thakur, V.C. Active tectonics of Himalayan Frontal Fault system. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 102, 1791–1810 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-013-0891-7

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