GPS, scaling exponent and past seismicity for seismic hazard assessment in Garhwal–Kumaun, Himalayan region

S. Mondal, Alessandra Borghi, P. Roy () and Abdelkrim Aoudia

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2016, vol. 80, issue 2, 1349-1367

Abstract: The world’s most geologically complex Himalayan arc is well known for its tectonic and seismic activities due to the collision of Indian and Eurasian plates. Based on these elements [global positioning system (GPS) deformation measurements, scaling exponent (D) of the tectonic elements and past seismicity] studied here can contribute to better understanding of dynamics and complexities of earthquakes occurrence in any region. In the present paper, the crustal deformation is analyzed with the 3-year campaign and continuous GPS sites data. The velocity vectors of the sites with IGS05 reference frame ranges from 35 to 50 mm/year and give strain-rate measurements up to 130 × 10 −9 strain/year. Further, the study region was divided into number of blocks of 1° × 1° that gives different D value based on the presence and distribution of tectonic elements in a particular block. One of the blocks was identified with very high D value of 1.82, where the least seismic activity and extensive convergence due to strain accumulation in comparison with other blocks of higher capacity dimensional value has been observed. Particularly this block lying between latitude 29°N–30°N and longitude 79°E–80°E is considered to be the probable highest seismic hazard zone in the study area. Significance of the combined application of GPS study, scaling exponent and the characteristics of seismicity are stated as helpful methods in the identification of hazardous zone in the Eastern part of the central seismic gap in the Himalaya or in any active areas of the world. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2016

Keywords: Global positioning system; Scaling exponent; Seismicity and strain (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11069-015-2026-x (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:80:y:2016:i:2:p:1349-1367

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11069

DOI: 10.1007/s11069-015-2026-x

Access Statistics for this article

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards is currently edited by Thomas Glade, Tad S. Murty and Vladimír Schenk

More articles in Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards from Springer, International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().