Tectonic implications of the aftershock sequence of the Kashmir earthquake of September 3, 1972

Abstract

An earthquake of magnitude 6.2 rocked North-Western Kashmir (India) in 1972 and it was followed by a number of moderate-sized aftershocks. Investigations have been carried out regarding the causative mechanism of this earthquake which originated in an area hitherto not explicitly deciphered as regards its seismicity. A thrust type of faulting is observed to have occureed, resulting in this severe earthquake. On the basis of focal-mechanism solutions, the authors have correlated this earthquake sequence to rupture along a major fault trend bounded by the Main Karakoram Thrust and the Main Mantle Thrust.