Earthquake Geology Along the Himalayan Frontal Thrust of India: Insight to Mechanics Earthquakes Along a Continental Convergent Plate Boundary

印度喜马拉雅山锋断层沿线的地震地质学：对大陆聚合板块边界沿线地震力学的见解

• 批准号: 0609556
• 负责人: Steven Wesnousky
• 金额: $ 28.78万
• 依托单位: Board of Regents, NSHE, obo University of Nevada, Reno
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2006
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2006-06-15 至 2010-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0609556&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Earthquake; Geology; Along; Himalayan; Frontal

The Indian-Eurasian plate boundary is the world's type example of continental convergence. The ongoing convergence between India and Eurasia has resulted in the globes's highest mountain range and the largest recorded intracontinental earthquakes on record. The largest of these events have occurred along the Himalayan frontal thrust. The Himalayan frontal thrust extends continuously along the 2500 km length of the Himalayan arc. The Himalayan frontal thrust manifests itself along strike as relatively short and discontinuous range front scarps that cut late Pleistocene and Holocene fluvial terraces and alluvial fans. This project, carried out in collaboration with scientists from the Wadia Institute in India and supported by NSF's Division of Earth Sciences and Office of International Science and Engineering, is conducting field studies along the Himalayan arc to define the timing, size, and lateral extent of earthquake ruptures along the Himalayan frontal thrust fault in India. Structural, stratigraphic, pedogenic, and radiocarbon studies of exposures resulting from the excavation of trenches across fault scarps of the Himalayan frontal thrust fault at 9 sites along the length of the arc in order to provide observational constraints on mechanical models of the earthquake process and the level of seismic hazard imposed by large earthquakes along the Himalayan front. Because the entirety of the India-Eurasia plate boundary is above sea level, the potential exists here to define the spatial, temporal, and surficial, characteristics of accumulated crustal strain that is released in earthquakes along the entirety of a major convergent plate boundary, in a manner and detail not possible along the world's oceanic convergent plate boundaries where the thrust boundary is beneath water.The proposed research is to apply geological techniques to extract information of the size and frequency of occurrence of great earthquakes along the Himalayan frontal thrust fault of India. The Himalayan frontal thrust fault bounds the southern front of the Himalaya. It is the displacements on this fault that have produced a number of the largest continental earthquakes recorded historically and through repeated occurrence through time responsible for the uplift of the Himalaya. The most densely populated regions of India now stretch along the southern edge of the Himalayan frontal thrust. Knowledge of the size and occurrence rate of great earthquakes along the thrust is required for educating the public and providing government agencies the information needed to make prudent planning decisions to mitigate the potential financial and loss-of-life risks along the front in the event of such an earthquake. The information gained by this research will also place observational bounds on the mechanics of the earthquake process along thrust faults, knowledge that may then be applied to seismic hazard analysis in western North America and elsewhere around the globe.

印度 - 欧拉西亚板块边界是世界大陆融合的类型例子。印度和欧亚大陆之间持续的融合导致了地球界最高的山脉，并且记录了记录的最大肠内地震。这些事件中最大的事件发生在喜马拉雅额叶上推力。喜马拉雅额的推力沿喜马拉雅弧的2500公里不断延伸。喜马拉雅额的推力沿罢工表现为相对较短和不连续的前坡，可切断更新世和全新世河流露台和冲积球迷。该项目与印度Wadia研究所的科学家合作进行，并得到了NSF的地球科学和国际科学与工程办公室的支持，正在沿喜马拉雅弧线进行现场研究，以定义印度喜马拉雅额局部冲刺沿印度的地震破裂的时机，大小和横向破裂。结构，地层，编织和放射性碳研究是由沿弧长的9个地点的喜马拉雅额叶额叶施加跨断层的沟渠引起的暴露的研究，以便对地震过程的机械模型和沿着大地震袭击的地震危险造成的地震过程的机械约束，并沿着大地震袭击沿着大型地震袭击。由于整个印度 - 欧洲膜板界边界都高于海平面，因此存在潜在的潜力，以定义空间，时间和表面的表面，这是累积的地壳菌株的特征，这些特征沿着主要收敛板界的全部地震中释放出来，以一种沿着世界上的范围和范围的频率提出的频率。在喜马拉雅额叶额外推力断层沿线发生了巨大地震。喜马拉雅额的推力断层围绕喜马拉雅山的南部界限。正是这种断层的流离失所引起了许多历史上最大的大陆地震，并通过导致喜马拉雅山升高的时间反复发生。 现在，印度人口最密集的地区沿喜马拉雅额叶的南部边缘延伸。需要了解沿推力的大地震的规模和发生率的知识，以教育公众并为政府机构提供审慎规划决定所需的信息，以减轻这种地震发生的情况下，以减轻前线的潜在财务和丧失生命风险。这项研究获得的信息还将在沿推力断层的地震过程的机理上置于观察界，然后将其应用于北美西部和全球其他地方的地震危害分析。