Morphometric analysis of relative tectonic activity in the upper parts of Tlawng river watershed in Lunglei, Mizoram, India

Abstract

The State of Mizoram in India is geologically located within the Indo Burmese Wedge (IBW) of the Indo Burmese Arc (IBA). The state is a landlocked state domestically bordered by Tripura in the north-west, Assam in the north and Manipur to its north-east. It shares international boundaries with Bangladesh to its west and Myanmar in the east. This region is amongst the most seismically active regions of the world and numerous seismic activities had occurred in the past. The high seismicity of the region of North East India is attributed to plate tectonics and is lying in the plate boundary region where numerous active faults are present. To assess the tectonic activities in the upper parts of the Tlawng river watershed in Lunglei of Mizoram, morphotectonic parameters including Basin elongation ratio (Re), Drainage basin asymmetry factor (Af), Transverse topographic symmetry factor (T), Bifurcation ratio (Rb), Hypsometry integral (HI), Mountain front sinuosity (Smf), Channel sinuosity (S), Ratio of valley floor width to valley height (Vf) and Stream length gradient index (SL) were used and the study revealed that the present Lunglei is tectonically active.