Allah Bakhsh Kausar

Long recurrence interval of faulting beyond the 2005 Kashmir earthquake around the northwestern margin of the Indo-Asian collision zone

The 2005 Kashmir earthquake in Pakistan occurred on a previously mapped active fault around the northwest margin of the Indo-Asian collision zone. To address the quantitative contribution of the earthquake to plate convergence, we performed paleoseismological trench excavations at Nisar Camp site near Muzaffarabad across the middle section of the 2005 surface rupture. The fault strands exposed in the trench cut late Holocene fluvial deposits and record evidence of both the 2005 and a penultimate event, supported by the presence of colluvial deposits and a downdip increase in displacement along the fault strands. The 2005 event produced a net slip of 5.4 m, and the penultimate earthquake exhibits a similar amount of slip. Radiocarbon ages and historical accounts loosely constrain the timing of the penultimate event between 500 and 2200 yr B.P.; however, the exposed section encompasses ~4 k.y. of stratigraphy, suggesting an average interevent interval of ~2 k.y. for the 2005 type events. We thus conclude that the 2005 event did not occur on the plate boundary megathrusts, but on intraplate active faults within the Sub-Himalaya. Consequently, the accumulated elastic strain around the complex northwestern margin of the Indo-Asian collision zone has not been significantly released by the 2005 earthquake.

Conferees examine deadly 2005 Kashmir earthquake

The last major urban earthquake to strike Pakistan prior to 2005 severely damaged the city of Quetta in 1935 and killed 35,000 people. In the last 70 years, although much progress has been made in studying the location of active faults and zones of seismicity in Pakistan, the general public in Pakistan has not yet fully understood or recognized the earthquake hazard.The near-destruction of two towns—Balakot in the North-West Frontier Province, and Muzaffarabad, the capital of Azad Jammu Kashmir Province—and the deaths of more than 70,000 people caused by the 8 October 2005 Kashmir earthquake (Mw 7.6) led the government of Pakistan to request a scientific response and plan of action. Accordingly the Geological Survey of Pakistan (GSP) organized a recent international conference, which was attended by Pakistani scientists and participants from Austria, France, India, Iran, Japan,Turkey the United Kingdom, and the United States [Kausar et al., 2006].

Minerals identification and mapping using ASTER satellite image

Abstract. Advanced spaceborn thermal emission and reflection radiometer (ASTER) has fine spectral bands in short-wave infrared (SWIR) and thermal infrared (TIR) regions of the electromagnetic spectrum. The purpose behind the study is to explore the potential of ASTER for lithological and minerals detection; in comparison with Landsat-ETM+ Khaira Murat range (KMR) of Gali Jagir area, district Attock was selected as a test site; enriched with industrial minerals of the Eocene age. Maximum likelihood classification was applied on Landsat-ETM+ and ASTER images. Maximum likelihood classification on ASTER satellite image exhibits better discrimination among various lithologies as compared to Landsat-ETM+. Classified image of ASTER showed a correlation coefficient of 0.6 with the geological survey of Pakistan’s map while a classified image of Landsat-ETM+ exhibited a correlation of only 0.43. Landsat-ETM+ and ASTER satellite images were further investigated for minerals detection. Landsat-ETM+ band ratio detected clay. ASTER SWIR band ratios detected various clay and carbonate minerals. X’PertPRO diffractometer and differential thermal analysis of field samples verified the detected minerology. The results suggest that ASTER can be successfully used for lithological and minerals mapping of less-examined areas.