Middle holocene surface rupture of the Riasi fault, Kashmir, India

Abstract

The Mw 7.6 Kashmir earthquake and its surface rupture of the Balakot-Bagh fault, considered by many to be inactive prior to 2005, underscored the need to better understand the active tectonics of the northwest Himalaya and raised concern that other unrecognized active faults may occur in the region. The Riasi fault, by all accounts a close relative to the Balakot-Bagh fault, occurs ~150 km along strike to the southeast of the 2005 rupture. Both are reverse faults that place tightly folded Precambrian limestone over Pliocene and younger non-marine strata. (See more in text.)