Advances in Earth Science ›› 2019, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (6): 629-639. doi: 10.11867/j.issn.1001-8166.2019.06.0629

Special Issue: Tibetan Plateau Seismic Survey

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Seismic Activity in the Himalayan Orogenic Belt and Its Related Geohazards

Ling Bai 1, 2( ),Bowen Song 2, 3,Guohui Li 2,Yong Jiang 2, 3,Sanjev Dhakal 2, 3   

  1. 1. Center for Excellence in Tibetan Plateau Earth Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100101,China
    2. Key Laboratory of Continental Collision and Plateau Uplift,Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100101,China
    3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049,China
  • Received:2019-01-14 Revised:2019-04-10 Online:2019-06-10 Published:2019-07-05
  • About author:Bai Ling(1973-), female, Beizhen City, Liaoning Province, Professor. Research areas include mechanism of earthquake, structure of the earth, and geohazard assessment in Himalayan-Tibetan region. E-mail: bailing@itpcas.ac.cn
  • Supported by:
    Foundation item: Project supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China “The seismic control of geohazards related to the 2015 Nepal earthquake” (No. 41761144076) and "the 2nd Scientific Expedition to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau"(No. 2019QZKK0701)

Ling Bai,Bowen Song,Guohui Li,Yong Jiang,Sanjev Dhakal. Seismic Activity in the Himalayan Orogenic Belt and Its Related Geohazards[J]. Advances in Earth Science, 2019, 34(6): 629-639.

Himalayan orogenic belt is the highest and largest continental collision and subduction zone on the Earth. The Himalayan orogenic belt has produced frequent large earthquakes and caused several geohazards due to landslides and housing collapse, having an impact on the safety of life and property along a length of over 2500 km. Here we took three earthquake clusters as examples, which occurred at Nepal Himalaya, eastern Himalayan syntaxis and western Himalayan syntaxis, respectively. Here we calculated the earthquake locations and fault plane solutions based on the waveform data recorded by seismic stations deployed in source areas by the Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. We found that at the Nepal Himalayan, the Main Himalayan Thrust is the major tectonic structure for large earthquakes to occur. At the eastern Himalayan syntaxis, most earthquakes are of the reverse or strike-slip faulting. The major tectonic feature is the combination of the NE-dipping thrust with the southeastern escape of the Tibetan plateau. At the western Himalayan syntaxis, intermediate-depth earthquakes are active. These observations reveal the geometry of the deep subduction of the continental plate with steep dipping angle.

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