Comment on: “Earthquake geology of Kashmir Basin and its implications for future large earthquakes” by Shah (2013); “Kashmir Basin Fault and its tectonic significance in NW Himalaya, Jammu and Kashmir, India” by Shah (2015)

Abstract

(KBF) without any additional structural, kinematic, geologic or geomorphic data in support. Therefore, this comment aims to clarify the confusions created by Shah (2013, 2015a), and it is in this context; we provide a review of the BF. No active faults/out-of-sequence thrusts/tectonic discontinuities were known north of MBT or MCT in the Kashmir basin, except a few NW–SE suspected fault segments with the collective length of ~45 km along NW Quaternary deposits, mapped from aerial photographs and CORONA satellite images (Nakata et al. 1991), and a south-facing scarp delineated as a possible active fault using Landsat satellite images (Yeats et al. 1992). Subsequent investigations revealed that the southwest-facing scarp (Yeats et al. 1992) is a high-angle thrust fault (reverse) with an average northeast 60° dip and NW–SE strike length of ~40 km (Ahmad 2010; Madden et al. 2010, 2011; Ahmad and Bhat 2012) (Figs. 1, 2, 3). The structure was named as BF because of its exposure on the left bank of Rambiara river (tributary of Jhelum river) at Balapur village (N 33° 75′ E 74° 83′) in Shupiyan district of Jammu and Kashmir state, India (Ahmad 2010; Ahmad and Bhat 2012). With an unknown depth, the BF cuts across (NW–SE) unconsolidated Karewa deposits (Plio-Pleistocene soft sediments), devoid of gouge and breccia; however, rotated gravels at the fault contact have been marked (Ahmad and Bhat 2012). Stratigraphic relations show that the fault has uplifted the Lower Pleistocene Methawoin Member (sand, sandy clay, clay silt and lignite bands) of the Lower Karewa and juxtaposed it to the Middle Pleistocene Shupiyan Member (gravels mostly composed of Panjal Trap fragments of the Upper Karewa (Bhatt 1989). Subsequently, the BF was firmly established by paleoseismic investigation and field data (Madden et al. 2010, 2011; Ahmad et al. 2013; Ahmad 2014). An optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) sample collected from fluvial deposits a few meters above the lower strath gives Comment