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Abstract: The MBT demarcates a tectonic boundary between the Tertiary Sub Himalaya and the pre-Tertiary Lesser Himalaya. South of the MBT, another tectonically important fault extends from Muzaffarabad and Riasi in Jammu–Kashmir to Bilaspur and Nahan in Himachal. Medlicott and Wadia had designated this fault the Main Boundary Fault (MBF) in Simla Hills and Jammu region respectively. In between these two areas, later workers gave local-area names to the MBF as the Riasi Thrust in Jammu, Palampur Thrust in Kangra, Bilaspur Thrust in Simla Hills and Nahan Thrust in Sirmur. We have reviewed and established the tectonostratigraphic framework and physical continuity of the lower Tertiary belt and the MBF. The lower Tertiary belt, lying south of the MBT, has characteristic tectonostratigraphic setting with discontinuous bodies of stromatolite-bearing Proterozoic limestone overlain with depositional contact by the Paleocene-lower part Middle Eocene marine Subathu/Patala formation which in turn overlain by the Upper Oligocene–Lower Miocene non-marine Dharamsala/Murree Formation. To avoid confusion with the MBT, we designate collectively the MBF and related faults as the Medlicott–Wadia Thrust (MWT). The MWT extends east of Hazara–Kashmir syntaxis to river Yamuna, covering a distance of ∼700km. Further east of Yamuna, the lower Tertiary belt pinches out and the MWT merges with the sensuo-stricto MBT. The Proterozoic limestone represents the basement over which the lower Tertiary sediments were deposited. The limestone basement with its cover was detached by the MWT, exhuming to the surface and thrusting over largely the Siwalik group. The reactivated Balakot–Bagh Fault, causative fault for the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, extends southeast with right-step to the Riasi Thrust. The Riasi Thrust shows evidence of reactivation and active tectonic activity in Jammu region. It extends further east to the Palampur Thrust in Kangra reentrant, which lies within the 1905 Kangra earthquake rupture zone. The Bilaspur Thrust, continuation of the Palampur Thrust, shows active faulting south of Simla hills between Sataun and Yamuna River. These observations indicate that the MWT represents a southern strand of the sensuo-stricto MBT and shows active faulting in some segments. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: After the 2005 Kashmir earthquake, we mapped surface ground fractures in Tangdhar, Uri, Rajouri and Punch sectors and liquefaction features in Jammu area lying close to the eastern side of the Line of Control (LOC) in Kashmir, India. The NW trending ground fractures occurred largely in the hanging wall zone of the southeastern extension of the causative fault in Tangdhar and Uri sectors. The principal compressive stress deduced from the earthquake induced ground fractures is oriented at N10°, whereas the causative Balakot–Bagh fault strikes 330°. The fault-plane solution indicates primarily SW thrusting of the causative fault with a component of strike–slip motion. The ground fractures reflect pronounced strike–slip together with some tensile component. The Tangdhar area showing left-lateral strike–slip motion lies on the hanging wall, and the Uri region showing right-lateral strike–slip movement is located towards the southeastern extension of the causative fault zone. The shear fractures are related to static stress that was responsible for the failure of causative fault. The tensile fractures with offsets are attributed to combination of both static and dynamic stresses, and the fractures and openings without offsets owe their origin due to dynamic stress. In Punch–Rajouri and Jammu area, which lies on the footwall, the fractures and liquefactions were generated by dynamic stress. The occurrence of liquefaction features in the out board part of the Himalayan range front near Jammu is suggestive of stress transfer ∼230 km southeast of the epicenter. The Balakot–Bagh Fault (BBF), the Muzaffarabad anticline, the rupture zone of causative fault and the zone of aftershocks — all are aligned in a ∼25 km wide belt along the NW–SE trending regional Himalayan strike of Kashmir region and lying between the MBT and the Riasi Thrust (Murree Thrust), suggesting a seismogenic zone that may propagate towards the southeast to trigger an earthquake in the eastern part of the Kashmir region. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]