Recurrent seismicity in Rajasthan State in the tectonically stable NW Indian Craton

محورهای موضوعی : Mineralogy

Hitesh Kumar ¹ ( Department of Mines and Geology, Government of Rajasthan, Jaipur, Rajasthan, India|Department of Geology, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur - 302004, Rajasthan, India )
Manoj Pandit ² ( Department of Geology, University of Rajasthan, Jaipur - 302004, Rajasthan, India )

تاریخ دریافت : 1398/03/26 تاریخ پذیرش : 1398/12/01 تاریخ انتشار : 1398/10/11

کلید واژه: Recurrent Seismicity, Indian Plate Convergence, Rajasthan, Reactivation, NW India, Lineaments,

چکیده مقاله :

Indian peninsular region comprises several Archean cratonic blocks (Dharwar, Bastar, Singhbhum, Aravalli – Bundelkhand), bordered by Proterozoic mobile belts. Therefore, this region is considered as tectonically stable and designated as the least vulnerable region to earthquake hazard except the still active Central Indian Tectonic Zone (CITZ). The latter is a major suture between southern and northern Indian blocks. Seismicity in India is common along its northern and northeastern (Himalayan) region defining the Indian Plate margin, in collision with the Eurasian (Tibetan) Plate. Being tectonically active, this region has a documented record of frequent earthquakes including some high magnitude and devastating ones. The northwestern Indian block is amongst the relatively stable Precambrian regions of India and categorized under Zone – II by the Indian Meteorology Department, one of the seismically least vulnerable regions. However, the region has been a site of recurring low to moderate magnitude earthquakes. Compilation of the earthquake data from the Rajasthan State in NW India documents at least 45 earthquakes in this region during the last one and a half decades. Several of these have remained unnoticed because of their low magnitude. The NE –SW trending Aravalli Mountain Region (AMR), running across the eastern half of Rajasthan State represents the most significant tectonomorphic feature of NW India. The AMR is an ensemble of Proterozoic age Aravalli and Delhi Supergroup rocks (metasediments, volcanics and intrusives) that overlie an Archean basement (Banded Gneissic Complex – BGC). These Proterozoic mobile belts have evolved through several episodes of deformation that have shaped its present day geomorphology. The western part of the State, the Marwar Block, is relatively younger in age and was accreted to the AMR during the 1 Ga subduction event. The western margin of AMR, also called as the Western Margin Fault, represents a major suture between the two terranes. However, the entire region was cratonized by end Proterozoic and has remained tectonically stable during the Phanerozoic Eon. The Archean basement and overlying Proterozoic cover rocks are infested with several major and minor faults and shear zones. The most prominent ones are the NE-SW trending major lineaments corresponding with the regional tectonic grain and several minor ones across. The earthquake epicenter distribution pattern shows a close spatial association with these lineaments. In the absence of any significant tectonic activity in the region and rise in pore pressure either due to magmatism or excessive rainfall, we attribute recurrence of earthquakes in the region to reactivation of such old sutures/weaker zones as a response to stress build-up along the northern margin of the Indian Plate resulting from ongoing northward convergence of the Indian Plate. Some of the faults in western part are traceable into the Cambay Basin active faults in the south that may have triggered seismic activity in western Rajasthan.

منابع و مأخذ:

1. Bakliwal PC, Ramaswamy SM (1987) Lineament fabric of Rajasthan and Gujarat, India. Rec. Geological Survey of India 113(7): 54-65.


2. Bhowmik SK, Wilde SA, Bhandari A, Pal T, Pant NC (2012) Growth of the greater Indian landmass and its assemnbly in Rodinia: geochronologic evidence from the Central Indian Tectonic Zone. Gondwana Research 22: 54-72.


3. Bhushan SK, Chandrasekaran V (2002) Geology and geochemistry of the magmatic rocks of the Malani igneous suite and tertiary alkaline province of western Rajasthan. Geological Survey of India Memoir 126: 179 pp.


4. Bilham, R, Srivastava SK (2003) Preface: The Bhuj Earthquake, Gujarat, India, 2001. Proceedings Indian Academy of Science 112: 313-314


5. Das AR (1988) Geometry of the superposed deformation in the Delhi Supergroup of rocks, north of Jaipur, Rajasthan. In: A.B. Roy (ed), Precambrian of the Aravalli Mountain, Rajasthan, India. Geological Society of India 7: 247-266.


6. Dasgupta S, Pande P, Ganguly D, Iqbal Z, Sanyal K, Venkatraman NV, Dasgupta S, Sural B,  Harendranath L, Majumdar K, Sanyal S,  Roy A, Das LK,  Misra PS, Gupta H (2000) Seismotectonic Atlas of India and its Environs, Geological Survey of India, with 43 plates.


7. de Wall H, Pandit MK, Dotzler R, Just J (2012) Cryogenian transpression and granite intrusion along the western margin of Rodinia (Mt. Abu region): Magnetic fabric and geochemical inferences on Neoproterozoic geodynamics of the NW Indian block. Tectonophysics 554-555: 143-158.


8. Dreger, DS, Tkalcic, H, Johnson, M (2000) Dilation processes accompanying earthquakes in the Long Valley Caldera. Science 288:122-125.


9. Gregory LC, Meert JG, Bingen B, Pandit MK, Torsvik TH (2009) Paleomagnetism and geochronology of the Malani Igneous Suite, Northwest India: Implications for the configuration of Rodinia and the assembly of Gondwana. Precambrian Research 170: 13 – 26.


10. Gupta SN, Arora Y, Mathur RK, Iqballuddin Prasad B, Sahay TN, Sharma SB (1981) Lithostratigraphic map of Aravalli Region, SE-Rajasthan and Nothern Gujarat. Geological Survey of India, Hyderabad.


11. Gupta SN, Arora Y, Mathur RK, Iqballuddin Prasad B, Sahay TN, Sharma SB (1997) The Precambrian geology of the Aravalli region, southern Rajasthan and northeastern Gujarat. Mem. Geological Survey of India 123: 262 p.


12. Heron AM (1953) Thegeolgy of central Rajputana, Mem. Geological Survey of India 79: 1-389.


13. Kayal JR (2008) Microearthquake Seismology and Seimotectonics of South Asia, 1st ed. Springer   Verlag and Capital Publishing company, India.


14. Meert JG, Pandit MK (2015) The Archean and Proterozoic history of peninsular India: Tectonic framework for Precambrian sedimentary basins in India. Geological Society Memoir 43: 29-54.


15. Meert JG, Pandit MK, Pradhan Vimal R, Banks J, Sirianni R, Stroud M, Newsteed, Brittany N, Gifford J (2010) Precambrian crustal evolution of Peninsular India: A 3.0 billion year odyssey. Journal of Asian Earth Sciences 39: 483-515.  


16. Murthy, YS, Raval, U (2000) Bouguer gravity image of India and the neighbouring ESCAP region: a study of tectonics and natural resources. Journal of Geophysics 21: 59–70.


17. Negi JG, Pandey, OP, Agarwal, PK (1986) Supermobility of hot Indian lithosphere. Tectonophysics 11: 135–147.


18. Pandey DK, Bahadur T (2009) A review of the stratigraphy of Marwar Supergroup of west-central Rajasthan. Journal of the Geological Society of India 73: 7474-758.


19. Pandit MK, Sial AN, Jamrani SS, Ferreira VP (2001) Carbon isotopic profile across the Bilara Group rocks Trans-Aravalli Marwar Supergroup in western India: implications for Neoproterozoic – Cambrian transition. Gondwana Research 4: 387-394.


20. Pareek HS (1984) Pre-quaternary geology and mineral resources of northwestern Rajasthan. Mem. Geological Survey of India 115: 99 p.


21. Pradhan VR, Meert JG, Pandit MK, Kamenov G, Gregory LC, Malone S J (2010) India’s changing place in global Proterozoic reconstructions: new geochronologic constraints on key paleomagnetic poles from the Dharwar and Aravalli/Bundelkhand cratons. Journal of Geodynamics 50: 224-242.


22. Rao RUM, Rao GV, Hari Narayan (1976) Radioactive heat generation and heat flow in the Indian Shield. Earth Planetary Science Letters 30: 57–64.


23. Roy AB (2004) The Phanerozoic Reconstitution of Indian Shield as the Aftermath of Break-up of the Gondwanaland. Gondwana Research 7 (2): 387-406.


24. Roy AB (2006) Seismicity in the peninsular Indian shield: Some geological considerations; Current Science 91(4): 456-463.


25. Roy AB, Jakhar SR (2002) Geology of Rajasthan (northwest India) – Precambrian to Recent. Scientific Publishers (India): 421 p.


26. Singh AP, Koulakov I, Ravi Kumar M, Kumar S, Kayal JR (2019) Seismic velocity structure and intraplate seismicity beneath the Deccan Volcanic Province of Western India. Physics of Earth and Planetary Interiors 287: 21 – 36.


27. Singh AP, Kumar, MR, Kumar S, Sateesh A, Mahesh P, Shukla A, Talukdar R (2017) Seismicity and subterranean sounds in the northwest Deccan Volcanic Province of India. Bulletin Seismological 107: 1129–1135.


28. Singh RN (1985) Thermal structure of the Indian Shield. Indian Journal of Earth Sciences 12: 155–158.


29. Sinha-Roy S (1984) Precambrian crustal interaction in Rajasthan, NW India. In: Proc. Seminar on Crustal Evolution if Indian shiekd and its bearings on Metallogeny. Indian Journal of Earth Sciences: 84-91.


30. Sinha-Roy S, Malhotra G, Guha DB (1995) A transect across Rajasthan Precambrian terrain in relation to geology, tectonics and crustal evolution of south-central Rajasthan. In: S. Sinha-Roy and K. R. Gupta (Eds.) Continental crust of Northwestern and Central India, Mem. Geological Survey of India 23: 575-677.


31. Sinha-Roy S, Malhotra G, Mohanty MK (1998) The Geology of Rajasthan. Bangalore: Geological Society of India: 278 p.


32. Wang W, Cawood PA, Pandit MK, Zhou MF, Chen WT (2017) Zircon U-Pb age and Hf isotope evidence for Eoarchean crustal remnant, and crustal growth and reworking respond to supercontinental cycles in NW India. Journal of Geological Society: 174(4): 759 -772.


33. Zhao JH, Pandit MK, Wang W, Xia XP (2018) Neoproteroozic tectonothermal evolution of NW India: evidence from geochemistry and geochronology of granitoids. Lithos 316: 330-346.