Publication Date:
2005-02-26
Description:
The Himalayan orogen has produced three thrust earthquakes with moment magnitude (Mw) 7.8 to 8.5 during the past century, yet no surface ruptures associated with these great earthquakes have been documented. Here, we present paleoseismic evidence from east central Nepal that, since approximately 700 A.D., a single earthquake ruptured the Frontal Thrust fault at approximately 1100 A.D., with a surface displacement of approximately 17 (+5/-3) meters and a lateral extent and size that could have exceeded 240 kilometers and approximately Mw 8.8, respectively. Ruptures associated with Mw 〈8.2 events would contribute to the frontal Himalayas folding but would stop before reaching the surface. These findings could require substantial modifications to current regional seismic hazard models.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Lave, J -- Yule, D -- Sapkota, S -- Basant, K -- Madden, C -- Attal, M -- Pandey, R -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2005 Feb 25;307(5713):1302-5.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Laboratoire de Geodynamique des Chaines Alpines, BP53, 38041 Grenoble, France. jlave@ujf-grenoble.fr〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15731452" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
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Chemistry and Pharmacology
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Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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