9. Paleoseismology
The E-W trending reverse Dauki
Fault (DF) in NE India has played a major role in the regional
deformation of the adjoining areas and was believed to be active during
the Late Quaternary time. Previous paleo-seismological studies conducted
on the eastern and western part of the DF, Bangladesh, revealed that the
fault ruptured in AD 849-920 and AD 1548 respectively. However, there
were no studies on the DF from the southern side of the
Shillong Plateau (SP), India. IIG
has reported soft sediment deformation structures (SSDS) from five
trenches in and around the DF zone, SP. Close to the Dauki village, five
trenches in the eastern part of the DF show micro-faulting, sand dykes,
disturbed strata, and water escape structures. The detailed
investigation of SSDS indicates that the origin of deformation is
seismically triggered. The 14C
AMS (Accelerator Mass
Spectrometry) dating of deformation structures generated by earthquakes
suggests that three seismic events occurred between 130 and 920 yr BP,
5415 to 9140 yr BP, and at about 4285 yr BP. This study confirms that DF
is indeed active, at least, since the mid-Holocene (Lakshmi and Gawali,
2022).
The major seismic source in the Kachchh basin, i.e. the
Kachchh Mainland Fault (KMF), was
studied using various geological investigations during 2019 and 2022.
After thorough scrutiny of high-resolution satellite imageries and field
investigations, several trenches were dug across prospective sites along
the KMF for detailed paleo-seismic study. Based on these investigations,
it was concluded that the KMF illustrates an oblique strike-slip fault
in the western and central segments. A total of six paleo-seismic events
have been identified during the period from 890 – 1980 years BP
(Kothyari et al., 2021), out of which five were in the Holocene whereas
one was in Late Pleistocene. The slip rate shows variability from lesser
values in the western flank (0.08 – 0.04 mm/yr) to progressively
increasing values (0.22 – 0.36 mm/yr) towards the eastern flank.