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Seismotectonics of Siang Valley and Adjoining Region Inferred from Focal Mechanism Solutions Using Waveform Inversion

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Abstract

The Siang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh, North-East India, is one of the seismotectonically active region that lie in the eastern Himalayan Syntaxis (EHS); we have investigated seismicity, fault plane solutions (FPS) and P (Pressure) axis orientation in this region. We have analyzed 756 local earthquakes of magnitude range (1.0 ≤ ML ≤ 5.9) in the region during the period from January 2019 to December 2021. From the spatial distribution of local seismicity, it is estimated that the concentration of seismicity is in Namcha-Barwa, western and eastern flanks of Siang Antiform, respectively. The depth distribution of seismicity extends upto a focal depth of 60 km with a higher concentration in the upper crustal part. Further, we determined 15 fault plane solutions (FPS) using waveform inversions (ISOLA) for events with a magnitude range of 3.5 to 5.9. The waveform inversion has been performed for the events with maximum azimuthal coverage. The frequency band used for the inversion is in the 0.01–0.1 Hz range corresponding to the maximum signal to noise ratio to precise crustal velocity structures, hypocenter positions, and appropriate frequency ranges were used to obtain reliable FPS. The FPS obtained for the shallow focused earthquakes shows Normal faulting with Strike-slip components. The compressional axes orientations of the thrust FPS show a north-east direction. The intense seismic activity and compressional axis orientation in this study area is due to the collision between Indian and Eurasian plate in the north and and east-ward subduction of Indian plate below the Burmese plate.

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Data Availability

Wave-form data could be acquire by sending a mail to the Director (director@wihg.res.in), Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) Dehradun, Uttarakhand India.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are thankful to the Director of the Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology (WIHG) Dehradun for provided that the essential facilities and encouragement to conduct the study. We are thankful to the Dr. Devajit Hazarika for his assistance in seismological data collection and installation of the BBS stations. Dr. Naresh Kumar and Dr. A.K. Singh are acknowledged for their support in site selection and fieldwork. The first author also expresses thankfulness to the University Grants Commission (UGC), New Delhi, for financial assistance throughout study. Present work is the part of Ashish Pal’s Ph.D. (HNB Garhwal University) research work. We are thankful to the handling editor and two anonymous reviewers for their valuable and detailed suggestions, which helped us a lot to improve the manuscript's quality.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, 33 GMS Road, Dehradun, 248001, India

    Ashish Pal, Dilip Kumar Yadav & Abhishek Kumar Gupta

  2. Hemvati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University, Srinagar Garhwal, 246174, India

    Ashish Pal & H. C. Nainwal

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  1. Ashish Pal
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Contributions

Ashish Pal (AP) did initial data preparations, investigation, and calculation of FPS and writing of original draft. Dilip Kr. Yadav (DKY) did conceptualization, Data curation, supervision, project administration and writing of manuscript. Abhishek Kumar Gupta (AKG) contributed in the discussion of the manuscript. HC Nainwal did supervision and validation.

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Correspondence to Dilip Kumar Yadav.

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Pal, A., Yadav, D.K., Gupta, A.K. et al. Seismotectonics of Siang Valley and Adjoining Region Inferred from Focal Mechanism Solutions Using Waveform Inversion. Pure Appl. Geophys. (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-024-03518-9

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