Slip-rates along the Chaman fault: Implication for transient strain accumulation and strain partitioning along the western Indian plate margin

Abstract

The Chaman fault in Western Pakistan marks the western collision boundary between the Indian and Eurasian plates and connects the Makran subduction zone to the Himalayan convergence zone. Geomorphic-scale slip-rates along an active strand of the Chaman fault are added to the sporadic data set of this poorly investigated transform system. Field investigations coupled with high-resolution GeoEye-1 satellite data of an alluvial fan surface (Bostankaul alluvial fan) show ~ 1150 m left-lateral offset by the fault since the formation of the alluvial fan surface. A weighted mean 10Be exposure age of 34.8 ± 3 kyr for the Bostankaul alluvial surface yields a slip-rate of 33.3 ± 3.0 mm/yr. This rate agrees with the geologically defined slip-rates along the Chaman fault, but is approximately twice as large as that inferred from the decade-long global positioning system measurements of 18 ± 1 mm/yr. The contrast in geomorphic and geodetic slip-rates along the Chaman fault, like other major intra-continental strike–slip faults, has two major implications: 1) the geodetic rates might represent a period of reduced displacement as compared to the averaged Late Pleistocene rate because of transient variations in rates of elastic strain accumulation; or 2) strain partitioning within the plate boundary zone. While strain partitioning could be the reason of slip-rate variations within the western Indian plate boundary zone, transient strain accumulation could explain contrasting slip-rates along the Chaman fault at this stage in its poorly understood seismic cycle.