Active faulting across the Himalaya and its significance in the collision tectonics

Abstract

An extensive active fault system that obliquely cuts across the Himalaya extends from the Karakoram Fault in the northwest to the newly found strike-slip fault system within the Bengal Plain in the southeast. Along this fault system, right-lateral displacement is commonly recognized from offset of streams and ridges in the Himalayan range with vertical slip down to the north. Holocene activities along the fault are evidenced on the outcrops in the trench or in the field, confirming it as a potential source of future destructive earthquakes. It may be considered that this fault system was formed by the initial stage of the Indo-Eurasian plate collision, and has been modified by large-scale thrusting along the Himalayan front.