Geology

Assignment # 1

Name: Mirza Farquleet Baig

Roll No: L11-4667

Title: Faults Lines in Pakistan

FAST-NU LAHORE

To:

Sir, Amir Qadri

Earth Quakes Fault lines in PAKISTAN

Fault lines or epicenters are that points where faulting

occur due to movement of earth plates.

In Pakistan Indian plate move toward European plate.

This convergent movement of plates causes Earth

quakes in Pakistan. So due to this movement height of

Himalayan increasing year by year.

In Pakistan, Indian-Australian plate has two major fault

lines.

Tectonic contact

Thrust fault

Tectonic contact:

This type of fault line South west area

of Pakistan. In Baluchistan Chaman fault is best example

of this. In 1935 earthquake is due

to this fault line and killed

upwards of 35,000 people.

Chaman Fault:

The Chaman Fault is a major, active geological fault in Pakistan and Afghanistan that runs for over 850 km. Tectonically, it is actually a system of related geologic faults that separates the Eurasian Plate from the Indo-Australian Plate. The slippage rate along the Chaman fault system as the Indo-Australian Plate moves northward (relative to the Eurasian Plate) has been estimated at 10 mm/yr. In addition to its primary transform aspect, the Chaman fault system has a compressional component as the Indian Plate is colliding with the Eurasian Plate. This type of plate boundary is sometimes called a transpressional boundary.

From the south, the Chaman fault starts at the triple junction where the Arabian Plate, the Eurasian Plate and the Indo-Australian Plate meet, which is just off the Makran Coast of Pakistan. The fault tracks northeast across Baluchistan and then north-northeast into Afghanistan, runs just to the west of Kabul, and then northeastward across the right-lateral-slip Herat fault, The Ghazaband and Ornach-Nal faults are often included as part of the Chaman fault system. South of the triple junction, where the fault zone lies it is known as the Owen Fracture Zone.

The parallel mountain ranges of eastern Balochistan, (east to west) the Kirthar Mountains, the Khude Mountains, the Zarro Mountains, the Pab Mountains and the Mor Mountains, are a result of the compressional plate boundary and are aligned parallel to the Chaman fault movement. The fault itself is west of these ranges.

Earthquake 1935

Owen Fracture Zone:

The Owen Fracture Zone is a transform fault which runs along the eastern boundary of the Arabian Plate, separating it from the Indo-Australian

Plate for most of its length, and from the African Plate for a much shorter distance. It extends across the northwest Indian Ocean until it meets the convergence zone in the Iran-Pakistan border region where the continental crust of the Arabian Plate is colliding with the continental crust of the Eurasian Plate.

In some usages, the name Owen Transform Fault is used to donate Aden-Owen-Carlsberg Triple Junction.

Thrust Fault:

This fault is due to convergent movement of Indian and European plate. 2005 earth quake is best example of this.

Thrust fault in the Qilian Shan, China. The older (left, blue and red) thrust over the younger (right, brown).

Kashmir earthquake:

The 2005 Kashmir earthquake was a major earthquake centered in Kashmir known as Azad Kashmir, near the city ofMuzaffarabad, affecting Gilgit-Baltistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It occurred at 08:52:37 on 8 October 2005. It registered a moment magnitude of 7.6.

Massive landslide on outskirts of Muzaffarabad. Image courtesy DLR, Kathryn Cramer, Google Earth

Rawat Fault:

Rawat Fault line is a fault line that runs in

Punjab Pakistan from Rawat Islamabad to Kashmir. With the

collision of Eurasian Plate and Plate, Himalaya, Salt Range came

into existence. This fault line also came into existence. Unusual

forms of rocks were made. English Deputy commissioner of

Rawalpindi in Rawalpindi Gazetteer of 1893-94 called these

rocks as dogs' teeth.