illuminating the seismicity pattern of the october 8 2005 m 7 6 kashmir earthquake aftershocks abstract aftershocks of the october 8 2005 m 7 6 kashmir earthquake continued for many weeks and covered a region extending over an aperture exceeding 100 km several hundred events were recorded well at teleseismic distances while many hundreds more are only observed at regional distances existing earthquake catalogs for this sequence are poor given an unfavorable distribution of stations a complex tectonic setting lack of local and near regional data and under exploitation of the most sensitive stations advances in automated signal processing improvements in seismic velocity models and innovations in multiple event location algorithms have made it worthwhile revisiting this sequence and attempting a large scale relocation of the aftershocks a vast number of new phase readings have been made on permanent and temporary seismic stations both at regional and teleseismic distances and the bayesian hierarchical multiple event location program bayesloc was employed in multiple stages resulting in a far more structured distribution to the seismicity the relocated aftershocks fall mainly into two distinct clusters one cluster lies predominantly north east of the balaklot bagh thrust and south of the main central thrust with the october 8 main shock at its most northern point the second cluster occupies the indus kohistan seismic zone north of the main central thrust and south of the main mantle thrust both clusters lie north east of a nw se trending boundary almost parallel to the southern part of the surface rupture an east south east trending strand of earthquakes extends from the most northerly turning point of the main central thrust into the kashmir basin and a scattering of events are located north of this line and south of the main mantle thrust the new location estimates result in those aftershocks with the most similar focal mechanisms being far more spatially clustered than in previously published catalogs mapping global cmt solutions before and after the relocation contributes to the confidence in the new epicenters and provides a clearer picture of how the source parameters vary over the aftershock region all files required to reproduce the results using the bayesloc program are provided

chemical weathering rates of silicate dominated lithological classes and associated liberation rates of phosphorus on the japanese archipelago implications for global scale analysis abstract lithology is an important characteristic of the terrestrial surface whose properties influence chemical weathering rates specifically non silicate minerals may contribute significantly to the weathering derived fluxes from silicate dominated lithological classes the japanese archipelago consists of predominantly silicate dominated lithologies with a high proportion of volcanics however the spatially explicit representation of chemical weathering rates remains difficult for such a large region because many controlling factors on chemical weathering rates are correlated with each other due to the spatial heterogeneity of lithology a multi lithological model approach to estimate spatially explicit chemical weathering rates for unmonitored areas is applied here to achieve this hydrochemical data of 381 catchments are used to train a set of models recognizing the contribution of a variety of proposed factors influencing chemical silicate rock weathering rates csrwr cations plus dissolved silica flux the monitored catchments cover 44 of the japanese archipelago cation chemical weathering rates excluding si are linearly correlated with csrwr and show outliers if basic volcanics or pyroclastic flows are present due to increased silica release rates lithology and runoff are identified as the strongest predictors for chemical weathering rates temperature and gradient of slope are of less relevance for the regional scale prediction while further proposed factors like soil properties or land cover are not identified as major predictors latter findings are partly attributed to geodata quality low variability of parameter values as well as spatial correlations of proposed controlling factors with lithology or runoff the calculated average csrwr of the archipelago is 25 t km 2 a 1 and ranges from 5 9 to 107 t km 2 a 1 in monitored catchments weathering rates per lithological class as a function of runoff can be grouped into three classes a pyroclastic flows showing the highest chemical weathering rates b alluvial deposits mixed sediments and basic to intermediate volcanics with medium rates and c metamorphics siliciclastic sediments acid volcanics acid plutonics and unconsolidated sediments other than alluvial deposits showing the lowest rates the recognition of lithogenic sulfur would add 9 7 to csrwr of considered catchments results suggest that the lithological classes acid volcanics and unconsolidated sediments contribute above average to the sulfur fluxes possible biases of this observation are discussed the contribution of ca fluxes from non silicate calcic minerals named ca excess ca fluxes in addition to silicate ca fluxes is about 10 of the csrwr on average and is attributed by a wide value range the calculated ratio ca excess to total ca fluxes from chemical weathering averages around 62 75 56 83 and 84 for the lithological classes acid plutonics metamorphics siliciclastic sediments mixed sediments and acid volcanics respectively this suggests a major ca contribution from non silicate calcic minerals for these lithological classes phosphorus release from rocks due to chemical weathering is estimated to be between 1 kg p km 2 a 1 and 390 kg p km 2 a 1 the p release patterns in dependence of runoff per lithological class are different from csrwrs due to differences of applied p content in rocks the identified spatial p release patterns suggest that the consideration of dynamic and spatially resolved p release rates by chemical weathering might improve ecosystem studies later findings may be of importance for analysing the influence of p release from rocks on the climate system via ecosystem functioning on geological time scales a first application of the p release model to the global scale suggests an annual release of 1 6 mt p 13 8 kg p km 1 a 1 by chemical weathering of silicate dominated lithological classes excluding carbonate sedimentary rocks

surface rupture of the 2005 kashmir pakistan earthquake and its active tectonic implications to provide a detailed record of a relatively rare thrust surface rupture and examine its active tectonic implications we have conducted field mapping of the surface rupture associated with the 2005 m w 7 6 kashmir earthquake despite the difficulty arising from massive earthquake induced landslides along the surface rupture we found that typical pressure ridges and warps extend northwestward for a distance of 70 km with a northeast side up vertical separation of up to 7 m neither the main frontal thrust nor the main boundary thrust is responsible for the earthquake but three active faults or fault segments within the sub himalaya collectively called the balakot bagh fault compose the causative fault although the fault exhibits substantial geomorphic expression of repeated similar surface ruptures only a part of it had been mapped as active before the earthquake the location of the hypocenter suggests that the rupture was initiated at a deep portion of the northern central segment boundary and propagated bilaterally to eventually break all three segments our obtained surface rupture traces and the along strike slip distribution are both in good agreement with results of prompt analyses of satellite images indicating that space geodesy can greatly aid in time consuming field mapping of surface ruptures assuming that the extensive fill terrace in the meizoseismal area was abandoned during 10 30 ka we tentatively estimate the earthquake recurrence interval and shortening rate on the balakot bagh fault to be 1000 3300 yr and 1 4 4 1 mm yr respectively these estimates indicate that the balakot bagh fault is not a main player of himalayan contraction accommodation graphic 1 selected field photographs and arcgis files of the mapped surface rupture traces and measured vertical separations are available in the electronic supplement to this article 1 embed inline graphic 1 gif

partitioning of convergence in northwest sub himalaya estimation of late quaternary uplift and convergence rates across the kangra reentrant north india the kangra reentrant constitutes a 80 km wide zone of fold thrust belt made of cenozoic strata of the foreland basin in nw sub himalaya earlier workers estimated the total long term shortening rate of 14 2 mm year by balanced cross section between the main boundary thrust and the himalayan frontal thrust geologically estimated rate is nearly consistent with the gps derived slip rate of 14 1 mm year there are active faults developed within 4 8 km depth of the sub himalayan fold thrust belt of the reentrant dating the strath surfaces of the abandoned fluvial terraces and fans above the thrust faults the uplift bedrock incision rates are computed the dips of thrust faults are measured in field and from available seismic depth profiles from the acquired data late quaternary shortening rates on the jawalamukhi thrust jt the soan thrust st and the himalayan frontal thrust hft are estimated the shortening rates on the jt are 3 5 4 2 mm year over a period 32 30 ka the st yields a shortening rate of 3 0 mm year for 29 ka the corresponding shortening and slip rates estimated on the hft are 6 0 and 6 9 mm year during a period 42 ka on the back thrust of janauri anticline the shortening and slip rates are 2 0 and 2 2 mm year respectively for the same period the results constrained the shortening to be distributed largely across a 50 km wide zone between the jt and the hft the emergence of surface rupture of a great and mega earthquakes recorded on the reactivated hft implies 100 km width of the rupture the ruptures of large earthquakes like the 1905 kangra and 2005 kashmir remained restricted to the hinterland the present study indicates that the high magnitude earthquakes can occur between the locking line and the active thrusts

toward mapping surface deformation in three dimensions using insar 1 one of the limitations of deformation measurements made with interferometric synthetic aperture radar insar is that an interferogram only measures one component of the surface deformation in the satellite s line of sight we investigate strategies for mapping surface deformation in three dimensions by using multiple interferograms with different imaging geometries geometries for both current and future missions are evaluated and their abilities to resolve the displacement vector are compared the north component is always the most difficult to determine using data from near polar orbiting satellites however a satellite with an inclination of about 60 120 would enable all three components to be well resolved we attempt to resolve the 3d displacements for the 23 october 2002 nenana mountain alaska earthquake the north component s error is much larger than the signal but proxies for eastward and vertical motion can be determined if the north component is assumed negligible inversions of hypothetical coseismic interferograms demonstrate that earthquake model parameters can be well recovered from two interferograms acquired on ascending and descending tracks

depth varying rupture properties during the 2015 mw 7 8 gorkha nepal earthquake on april 25th 2015 the mw 7 8 gorkha nepal earthquake ruptured a portion of the main himalayan thrust underlying kathmandu and surrounding regions we develop kinematic slip models of the gorkha earthquake using both a regularized multi time window mtw approach and an unsmoothed bayesian formulation constrained by static and high rate gps observations synthetic aperture radar sar offset images interferometric sar insar and teleseismic body wave records these models indicate that kathmandu is located near the updip limit of fault slip and approximately 20 km south of the centroid of fault slip fault slip propagated unilaterally along strike in an ese direction for approximately 140 km with a 60 km cross strike extent the deeper portions of the fault are characterized by a larger ratio of high frequency 0 03 0 2 hz to low frequency slip than the shallower portions from both the mtw and bayesian results we can resolve depth variations in slip characteristics with higher slip roughness higher rupture velocity longer rise time and higher complexity of subfault source time functions in the deeper extents of the rupture the depth varying nature of rupture characteristics suggests that the up dip portions are characterized by relatively continuous rupture while the down dip portions may be better characterized by a cascaded rupture the rupture behavior and the tectonic setting indicate that the earthquake may have ruptured both fully seismically locked and a deeper transitional portions of the collision interface analogous to what has been seen in major subduction zone earthquakes

recurrence of large paleo earthquakes in kashmir himalaya seismic gap riasi area india abstract in kashmir himalaya the medlicott wadia thrust is a main active fault responsible for the crustal accretionary prism building during the late quaternary because of the long seismic silence during the last five centuries it is a key structure to be studied in order to estimate the regional seismic hazard in the riasi area the analysis of two paleoseismological trenches allowed us identifying and measuring several seismic ruptures over the last 3500 years we determined that the oldest rupture occurred around 1600 1000 bc while the youngest occurred after 1470 ad the latest event is compatible with the great 1555 ad mw 7 5 kashmir earthquake whose evidence at the surface had not yet been recognized our results show that despite the long lasting seismic gap the medlicott wadia thrust is a main seismogenic structure in the region able to produce large earthquakes their recurrence interval ranges between 500 and 700 years implying that a main seismic event could occur in the next decades these seismic ruptures are localized over gently dipping fault branches associated with decameter scale scarps the morphologies observed are due to a significant non localized component of the deformation in quaternary sediments

hydrology of a forested hillslope during storm events abstract subsurface flow from a 0 47 ha hillslope subcatchment at the upper most reach of the west fork 38 ha of walker branch watershed was monitored throughout 1988 stormflow in the first order stream draining the west fork responded simultaneously with the initiation of subsurface flow through 0 to 2 5 m depth from the hillslope subsurface flow from the upper hillslope was only 1 3 of total precipitation for 1988 however individual storms yielded as much as 12 5 of precipitation as subsurface flow the west fork had 10 4 of precipitation observed as storm flow with an additional 29 as baseflow individual storms exhibited up to 71 of precipitation as storm flow in the west fork illustrating the significant increase in percent rain converted to subsurface flow in lower landscape positions as compared to upper hillslopes peak subsurface flow preceded peak streamflow and occurred primarily through the 1 0 2 5 m depth bt2 horizons due to perched water tables preferential flow from hillslopes through macro and mesopores was concluded to be the predominant stormflow mechanism the contributions of the various size pores was reasoned to be dependent upon the position within the soil profile and the stage of the hydrograph preferential flow occurred at extreme soil water conditions with the response due to perched water tables under wet conditions and believed to be due to hydrophobic conditions under extremely dry conditions intermediate soil water conditions resulted in infiltration into soil matrix pores precluding subsurface stormflow

hillslope and channel contributions to the hydrologic response 1 this paper develops a new framework to analyze the relevance of hillslope with respect to channel processes in the generation of the hydrologic response at different scales the dependence between basin response and geomorphic features of channels and hillslopes is analyzed through the mean and variance of travel times under simple but realistic dynamical hypotheses and within the framework of the rescaled width function the distribution of travel times is also studied in association with variations of the fraction of saturated areas with small values of the saturated fraction the channel network controls most of the mean and variance of travel time distribution vice versa when the basin is saturated the properties of this distribution may be significantly affected by hillslope processes these properties depend also on the basin size with the role of hillslope processes becoming more important in the smaller basins furthermore the average residence time is related to contributing area and drainage density through a simple expression which is shown to be consistent with previous empirical laws

the rise collapse and compaction of mt mantap from the 3 september 2017 north korean nuclear test surveillance of clandestine nuclear tests relies on a global seismic network but the potential of spaceborne monitoring has been underexploited we used satellite radar imagery to determine the complete surface displacement field of up to 3 5 meters of divergent horizontal motion with 0 5 meters of subsidence associated with north korea s largest underground nuclear test combining insight from geodetic and seismological remote sensing we found that the aftermath of the initial explosive deformation involved subsidence associated with subsurface collapse and aseismic compaction of the damaged rocks of the test site the explosive yield from the nuclear detonation with best fitting source parameters for 450 meter depth was 191 kilotonnes of tnt equivalent our results demonstrate the capability of spaceborne remote sensing to help characterize large underground nuclear tests

measuring ground displacements from sar amplitude images application to the landers earthquake ers sar amplitude images are utilized to map ground displacements from a sub pixel correlation method it yields a ground two dimensional displacement field with independent measurements about every 128m in azimuth and 250m in range the accuracy depends on the characteristics of the images for the landers test case the 1 uncertainty is 0 8m in range and 0 4m in azimuth we show that this measurement provides a map of major surface fault ruptures accurate to better than 1km and information on coseismic deformation comparable to the 92 gps measurements available although less accurate this technique is more robust than sar interferometry and provides complementary information since interferograms are only sensitive to the displacement in range

surface displacements and source parameters of the 2003 bam iran earthquake from envisat advanced synthetic aperture radar imagery 1 the mw 6 6 26 december 2003 bam iran earthquake was one of the first earthquakes for which envisat advanced synthetic aperture radar asar data were available using interferograms and azimuth offsets from ascending and descending tracks we construct a three dimensional displacement field of the deformation due to the earthquake elastic dislocation modeling shows that the observed deformation pattern cannot be explained by slip on a single planar fault which significantly underestimates eastward and upward motions se of bam we find that the deformation pattern observed can be best explained by slip on two subparallel faults eighty five percent of moment release occurred on a previously unknown strike slip fault running into the center of bam with peak slip of over 2 m occurring at a depth of 5 km the remainder occurred as a combination of strike slip and thrusting motion on a southward extension of the previously mapped bam fault 5 km to the east

time variable 3d ground displacements from high resolution synthetic aperture radar sar application to la valette landslide south french alps abstract we apply an image correlation technique to multi orbit and multi temporal high resolution hr sar data image correlation technique has the advantage of providing displacement maps in two directions e g the line of sight direction los and the azimuth direction this information derived from the two modes of data acquisition ascending and descending can be combined routinely to infer the three dimensional surface displacement field at different epochs in this study a methodology is developed to characterize the displacement pattern of the large la valette landslide south french alps using terrasar x images acquired in 2010 the results allow mapping the dynamics of different units of the la valette landslide at high spatial resolution the study demonstrates the potential of this new application of high resolution sar image correlation technique for landslide ground surface deformation monitoring

representation of subsurface storm flow and a more responsive water table in a topmodel based hydrology model 1 this study presents two new modeling strategies first a methodology for representing the physical process of subsurface storm flow within a topmodel framework is developed in using this approach discharge at quick flow timescales is simulated and a fuller depiction of hydrologic activity is brought about discharge of water from the vadose zone is permitted in a physically realistic manner without a priori assumption of the level within the soil column at which subsurface storm flow saturation can take place determination of the subsurface storm flow contribution to discharge is made using the equation for groundwater flow no new parameters are needed instead regions in excess of field capacity that develop during storm events producing vertical recharge are also allowed to contribute to soil zone discharge these subsurface storm flow contributions to river runoff as for groundwater flow contributions are a function of catchment topography and hydraulic conductivity at the depth at which such regions in excess of field capacity occur the second approach improves groundwater flow response through a reduction of porosity and field capacity with depth in the soil column large storm events are better captured and a more dynamic water table develops with application of this modified soil column profile mscp the mscp predominantly reflects soil depth differences in upland and lowland regions of a watershed combined these two approaches subsurface storm flow and the mscp provide a more accurate representation of the timescales at which discharge responds and a more complete depiction of hydrologic activity storm events large and small are better simulated and some of the biases previously evident in topmodel simulations are reduced

temporal evolution of surface rupture deduced from coseismic multi mode secondary fractures insights from the october 8 2005 mw 7 6 kashmir earthquake nw himalaya abstract detailed rupture fracture analyses of some of the well studied earthquakes have revealed that the geometrical arrangement of secondary faults and fractures can be used as a geological tool to understand the temporal evolution of slip produced during the mainshock the october 8 2005 mw 7 6 kashmir earthquake nw himalaya surface rupture provides an opportunity to study a complex network of secondary fractures developed on the hanging wall of the fault scarp the main fault scarp is clearly thrust type rupture length is 75 5 km and the overall trend of the rupture is nw se we present the results of our detailed structural mapping of secondary faults and fractures at 1 100 scale on the hanging wall of the southern end of the rupture in the vicinity of the sar pain secondary ruptures can be broadly classified as two main types 1 normal faults and 2 right lateral strike slip riedel fractures the secondary normal faults are nw se striking with a maximum 3 3 meter vertical displacement and 2 5 meter horizontal displacement estimated total horizontal extension across the secondary normal faults is 3 1 3 5 we propose that the bending moment and coseismic stress relaxation can explain the formation of secondary normal faults on the hanging wall of the thrust fault the strike slip riedel fractures form distinct sets of tension t and shear fractures r r y with right lateral displacement field observations revealed that the riedel fractures t cut the secondary normal faults in addition there is kinematic incompatibility and magnitude mismatch between the secondary normal faults and strike slip riedel fractures the cross cutting relationship geometric and magnitude incoherence implies a temporal evolution of slip from dip to strike slip during the mainshock faulting the interpretation is consistent with the thrust fault plane solution with minor right lateral strike slip component

evidence for self similar triangular slip distributions on earthquakes implications for earthquake and fault mechanics we characterize average slip distributions on earthquakes beyond their individual heterogeneity for that we analyze a large number of seismic slip distributions both measured at the surface after earthquakes 44 profiles and derived from slip inversion models 76 models investigating the overall shape of these slip profiles we find that they are roughly triangular both along strike and dip and most of them 70 80 are asymmetric long linear slopes and high slip gradients therefore are the key ingredients to describe earthquake slip profiles the scaling relations between maximum displacement and length or width suggest furthermore that the triangular slip profiles are self similar such slip patterns make earthquakes dominated by one major zone of maximum slip hence one major asperity analyzing the position of hypocenters with respect to these asperities we find that earthquakes nucleate at a distance from them that averages 20 30 of their total length compiling observations on 56 earthquakes we show that this distance i e the asperity size is structurally defined we then compare the earthquake slip profiles to cumulative slip profiles measured on long term faults of various ages and sizes and find that all profiles have a similar shape triangular and asymmetric hence combining data for a large number of earthquakes leads to point out average generic characteristics of the coseismic slip that are similar to those that emerge from the accumulation of events with time on a single fault this suggests that these characteristics result from robust physical properties

the 2011 mw 6 8 burma earthquake fault constraints provided by multiple sar techniques we used two tracks of alos palsar images to investigate the focal mechanism and slip distribution of the 2011 march 24 m w 6 8 burma strike slip earthquake three different sar techniques namely conventional interferometry sar pixel offsets spo and multiple aperture insar mai were employed to obtain the coseismic surface deformation fields along the 30 km length of the fault rupture along track measurements from spo and mai techniques show a high correlation and were subsequently used to precisely determine the location and extent of the surface fault trace the best fitting fault model geometry derived from an iterative inversion technique suggests that the rupture occurred on a near vertical sinistral strike slip fault west of the nam ma fault with a strike of 70 a maximum slip of 4 2 m occurs at a depth of 2 5 km with significant slip constrained only to the upper 10 km of the crust

a seismologically consistent expression for the total area and volume of earthquake triggered landsliding we present a new seismologically consistent expression for the total area and volume of populations of earthquake triggered landslides this model builds on a set of scaling relationships between key parameters such as landslide spatial density seismic ground acceleration fault length earthquake source depth and seismic moment to assess the model we have assembled and normalized a catalog of landslide inventories for 40 shallow continental earthquakes low landscape steepness causes systematic overprediction of the total area and volume of landslides when this effect is accounted for the model predicts the total landslide volume of 63 of 40 cases to within a factor 2 of the volume estimated from observations r2 0 76 the prediction of total landslide area is also sensitive to the landscape steepness but less so than the total volume and it appears to be sensitive to controls on the landslide size frequency distribution and possibly the shaking duration some outliers are likely associated with exceptionally strong rock mass in the epicentral area while others may be related to seismic source complexities ignored by the model however the close match between prediction and estimate for about two thirds of cases in our database suggests that rock mass strength is similar in many cases and that our simple seismic model is often adequate despite the variety of lithologies and tectonic settings covered this makes our expression suitable for integration into landscape evolution models and application to the anticipation or rapid assessment of secondary hazards associated with earthquakes

displacement field and slip distribution of the 2005 kashmir earthquake from sar imagery 1 the 8th october 2005 kashmir earthquake mw 7 6 involved primarily thrust motion on a ne dipping fault sub pixel correlation of envisat sar images gives the location of the 80 km long fault trace within 300 800 m and a 3d surface displacement field with a sub metric accuracy covering the whole epicentral area the slip distribution inverted using elastic dislocation models indicates that slip occurs mainly in the upper 10 km between the cities of muzaffarabad and balakot the rupture reached the surface in several places in the hanging wall horizontal motions show rotation from pure thrust to oblique right lateral motion that are not observed in the footwall a segmentation of the fault near muzaffarabad is also suggested north of the city of balakot slip decreases dramatically but a diffuse zone of mainly vertical surface displacements which could be post seismic exists further north where most of the aftershocks occur aligned along the nw se indus kohistan seismic zone

the pliensbachian and tithonian extinction events the claim by raup and sepkoski1 that an approximately 26 myr mass extinction periodicity can be recognized on a global scale at family level over the past 250 myr has excited much attention and provoked speculation about an ultimate extraterrestrial cause2 10 while the purported periodicity can be challenged on grounds of both the inaccuracy of the geological timescale11 and the method of extinction analysis12 there can be no doubting the reality of at least some of the 12 proposed extinction events such as those at or near the end of the permian triassic and cretaceous others are less widely acknowledged further analysis by raup and sepkoski13 confirms the importance of two of these events within the jurassic at the end of the pliensbachian and tithonian stages i demonstrate here that marine invertebrate mass extinctions at approximately these times occurred on a regional not a global scale they can be related to severe reductions in habitat area provoked either by regression of epicontinental sea or by widespread anoxia

static stress change from the 8 october 2005 m 7 6 kashmir earthquake 1 we calculated static stress changes from the devastating m 7 6 earthquake that shook kashmir on 8 october 2005 we mapped coulomb stress change on target fault planes oriented by assuming a regional compressional stress regime with greatest principal stress directed orthogonally to the mainshock strike we tested calculation sensitivity by varying assumed stress orientations target fault friction and depth our results showed no impact on the active salt range thrust southwest of the rupture active faults north of the main boundary thrust near peshawar fall in a calculated stress decreased zone as does the raikot fault zone to the northeast we calculated increased stress near the rupture where most aftershocks occurred the greatest increase to seismic hazard is in the indus kohistan seismic zone near the indus river northwest of the rupture termination and southeast of the rupture termination near the kashmir basin

coseismic displacements from sar image offsets between different satellite sensors application to the 2001 bhuj india earthquake synthetic aperture radar sar image offset tracking is increasingly being used for measuring ground displacements e g due to earthquakes and landslide movement however this technique has been applied only to images acquired by the same or identical satellites here we propose a novel approach for determining offsets between images acquired by different satellite sensors extending the usability of existing sar image archives the offsets are measured between two multiimage reflectivity maps obtained from different sar data sets which provide significantly better results than with single preevent and postevent images application to the 2001 mw7 6 bhuj earthquake reveals for the first time its near field deformation using multiple preearthquake ers and postearthquake envisat images the rupture model estimated from these cross sensor offsets and teleseismic waveforms shows a compact fault slip pattern with fairly short rise times 3 s and a large stress drop 20 mpa explaining the intense shaking observed in the earthquake

superficial simplicity of the 2010 el mayor cucapah earthquake of baja california in mexico the geometry of faults is usually thought to be more complicated at the surface than at depth and to control the initiation propagation and arrest of seismic ruptures the fault system that runs from southern california into mexico is a simple strike slip boundary the west side of california and mexico moves northwards with respect to the east however the m w 7 2 2010 el mayor cucapah earthquake on this fault system produced a pattern of seismic waves that indicates a far more complex source than slip on a planar strike slip fault here we use geodetic remote sensing and seismological data to reconstruct the fault geometry and history of slip during this earthquake we find that the earthquake produced a straight 120 km long fault trace that cut through the cucapah mountain range and across the colorado river delta however at depth the fault is made up of two different segments connected by a small extensional fault both segments strike n130 e but dip in opposite directions the earthquake was initiated on the connecting extensional fault and 15 s later ruptured the two main segments with dominantly strike slip motion we show that complexities in the fault geometry at depth explain well the complex pattern of radiated seismic waves we conclude that the location and detailed characteristics of the earthquake could not have been anticipated on the basis of observations of surface geology alone

the 2010 mw 6 8 yushu qinghai china earthquake constraints provided by insar and body wave seismology 1 by combining observations from satellite radar body wave seismology and optical imagery we have determined the fault segmentation and sequence of ruptures for the 2010 mw 6 8 yushu china earthquake we have mapped the fault trace using displacements from sar image matching interferometric phase and coherence and 2 5 m spot 5 satellite images modeling the event as an elastic dislocation with three segments fitted to the fault trace suggests that the southeast and northwest segments are near vertical with the central segment dipping 70 to the southwest slip occurs mainly in the upper 10 km with a maximum slip of 1 5 m at a depth of 4 km on the southeastern segment the maximum slip in the top 1 km i e near surface is up to 1 2 m and inferred locations of significant surface rupture are consistent with displacements from sar image matching and field observations the radar interferograms show rupture over a distance of almost 80 km much larger than initial seismological and field estimates of the length of the fault part of this difference can be attributed to slip on the northwestern segment of the fault being due to an mw 6 1 aftershock two hours after the main event the remaining difference can be explained by a non uniform slip distribution with much of the moment release occurring at depths of less than 10 km the rupture on the central and southeastern segments of the fault in the main shock propagated at a speed of 2 5 km s southeastward toward the town of yushu located at the end of this segment accounting for the considerable building damage strain accumulation since the last earthquake on the fault segment beyond yushu is equivalent to an mw 6 5 earthquake

throughflow and solute transport in an isolated sloping soil block in a forested catchment a 3m wide by 9m long by 1m deep soil block on a forested hillslope near orono me was isolated by excavation of encircling trenches a sprinkler system for application of water and potassium bromide tracer was constructed over the plot outflow was collected at six locations with troughs experiments were conducted at application rates of 2 5 5 and 10 cm h 1 pulses of tracer were applied subsequent to attainment of steady flow and breakthrough curves were measured at all outflow points recession limbs of outflow hydrographs exhibited distinct breaks when plotted on semilogarithmic axes indicating drainage from at least two distinguishable pore size classes or flow pathways solute breakthrough curves were dominated by a single peak travel times of solute were inversely related to the application rate a secondary peak in the outflow curve which is inconsistent with transport theories for a homogeneous soil was observed in all cases this second peak is unexplained but is conceptually consistent with the notion of transport in at least two pore size classes an undisturbed soil core diameter of 30 cm and length of 40 cm was sprinkled at the same rates as was the soil block using methylene blue as tracer in the last run drainage hydrographs and visual examination of dye stains in the block indicated also at this smaller scale that flow and transport are controlled by preferred paths in the soil paths that cannot be morphologically distinguished from the surrounding soil matrix theoretical explanations of processes on such hillslopes need to account for this fact

modeling of kashmir aftershock decay based on static coulomb stress changes and laboratory derived rate and state dependent friction law we model the spatial and temporal evolution of october 8 2005 kashmir earthquake s aftershock activity using the rate and state dependent friction model incorporating uncertainties in computed coseismic stress perturbations we estimated the best possible value for frictional resistance a n background seismicity rate r and coefficient of stress variation cv using maximum log likelihood method for the whole kashmir earthquake sequence we measure a frictional resistance a n 0 0185 mpa r 20 m3 7 events year and cv 0 94 0 01 the spatial and temporal forecasted seismicity rate of modeled aftershocks fits well with the spatial and temporal distribution of observed aftershocks that occurred in the regions with positive static stress changes as well as in the apparent stress shadow region to quantify the effect of secondary aftershock triggering we have re run the estimations for 100 stochastically declustered catalogs showing that the effect of aftershock induced secondary stress changes is obviously minor compared to the overall uncertainties and that the stress variability related to uncertain slip model inversions and receiver mechanisms remains the major factor to provide a reasonable data fit

late quaternary crustal shortening rates across thrust systems beneath the ou ranges in the ne japan arc inferred from fluvial terrace deformation abstract we documented the existence of a blind thrust along the volcanic front in northeast japan and calculated the crustal shortening rate across the ou ranges we detected broad anticlinal deformation of the longitudinal profiles of fluvial terraces dated by using tephro and cryptotephrostratigraphy we inferred that the daizaki flexure located along the southern extension of the 2008 iwate miyagi nairiku earthquake imeq fault indicated the presence of an underlying thrust daizaki fault newly named there therefore we inferred the existence of a west dipping thrust system along the volcanic front at the eastern edge of the ou ranges consisting from north to south of the kitakami teichi seien fault zone the 2008 imeq fault and the daizaki fault to estimate rates of crustal deformation due to this thrust we determined the uplift rate distribution from a pair of accumulation terrace surfaces one formed during the marine isotope stage mis 6 5 glacial to interglacial transition and the other during the mis 2 1 transition because the overall uplift rate distribution includes crustal deformation at both regional and local scales we calculated the fault related deformation area by subtracting the regional uplift rate 0 15 0 18 m ky 1 obtained from a pair of fluvial terraces on the stable footwall from the total uplift rate distribution across the fault a mass balance calculation of the fault related deformation area showed the crustal shortening rate across the 2008 imeq fault to be 0 50 0 19 0 59 0 22 m ky 1 an east dipping thrust system along the western edge of the ou ranges eastern part of the shinjo basin fault zone has also contributed to crustal shortening during the late quaternary at a previously estimated rate of 0 65 1 42 m ky 1 therefore the shortening rates of the eastern and western thrust systems individually account for about 0 6 0 7 and 0 7 1 6 respectively total 1 3 2 3 of the convergence between the pacific and eurasian plates this westward increase in the shortening rate across the ou ranges is in accordance with the crustal structure which reflects the tectonic history since the miocene backarc spreading of the japan sea

soil layering and preferential flow impacts on seasonal changes of gpr signals in two contrasting soils abstract experimental evidence has shown that soil layering can significantly alter water movement through soil profiles especially in sloping landscapes detailed knowledge of soil layering and its position in the landscape is therefore necessary for determining dynamic subsurface flow in this study we used ground penetrating radar gpr in combination with high resolution real time soil water monitoring to investigate seasonal changes in gpr signals to identify soil horizon interfaces and their impacts on water flow in two contrasting soils the results showed that 1 in the deep rushtown soil located in a concave hillslope gpr reflections in the bw bc and bc c horizon interfaces became clearer as soil became wetter such increased contrast along interfaces was due to the presence of water associated with water restricting bc horizon and lateral flow from upslope area and 2 in the shallow weikert soil located in a planar hillslope gpr reflections in the soil bedrock interface and the weathered unweathered rock interface become intermittent as soil became wetter this scattering of gpr reflection was due to the non uniform distribution of water in fractured shale bedrock and possible tree root effects while wet condition permitted the enhanced detection of water distribution in both soil profiles optimal time for detecting soil layering was different for these two soils wet condition was more suited for detecting water restricting dense layer in the deep rushtown soil while dry season was optimal for identifying the soil bedrock interface in the shallow weikert soil overall this study demonstrates the value of repeated gpr surveys in different seasons to capture subsurface hydrologic processes and the impacts of soil layering and preferential water distribution on seasonal changes of gpr signals it also provides a useful reference for selecting optimal time for gpr survey in the field

aftershock patterns of ms 7 earthquakes in the india asia collision belt anomalous results from the muzaffarabad earthquake sequence kashmir 2005 the seismicity rate triggered by the muzaffarabad kashmir 2005 m w 7 6 m s 7 7 earthquake is above the average when analyzing the aftershock rate of the 18 m s 7 0 events in the india asia collision belt between 1973 and 2008 all 17 m s 7 0 events occurred within 10 latitude and 20 longitude distance from the 2005 muzaffarabad earthquake epicenter we determined the huge aftershock productivity for this earthquake is not driven by a specific omori law parameter this anomaly in aftershock rate value corresponds to a relatively higher rate decay as measured by the p value and a larger density value in a higher background seismicity rate setting prestress conditions than the other 17 sequences respectively after normalizing by the mainshock size and by the magnitude range of observation we resolved the anomalies with a 95 confidence level for five aftershock sequences for either the duration the productivity the density or the background seismicity rate when we did not include the local processes that drive these specific anomalies two other global results emerged for the averaged data from the 18 m s 7 0 aftershock sequences first for all sequences background seismicity and duration are anticorrelated graphic 1 within the framework of rate and state friction law this result supports the assertion that the observed background seismicity rate can be used as a proxy for the stressing rate dieterich 1994 second we robustly resolve the dependence of aftershock productivity on the mainshock faulting styles for example the aftershock productivity for strike slip mainshocks is on average four times smaller than the productivity of thrust faulting mainshocks 1 embed inline graphic 1 gif

a review of the 2005 kashmir earthquake induced landslides from a remote sensing prospective abstract the 8th october 2005 kashmir earthquake in northern pakistan has triggered thousands of landslides which was the second major factor in the destruction of the build up environment after earthquake induced ground shaking subsequent to the earthquake several researchers from home and abroad applied a variety of remote sensing techniques supported with field observations to develop inventories of the earthquake triggered landslides analyzed their spatial distribution and subsequently developed landslide susceptibility maps earthquake causative fault rupture geology anthropogenic activities and remote sensing derived topographic attributes were observed to have major influence on the spatial distribution of landslides these were subsequently used to develop a landslide susceptibility map thereby demarcating the areas prone to landsliding temporal studies monitoring the earthquake induced landslides shows that the earthquake induced landslides are stabilized contrary to earlier belief directly after the earthquake the biggest landslide induced dam as a result of the massive hattian bala landslide is still posing a threat to the surrounding communities it is observed that remote sensing data is effectively and efficiently used to assess the landslides triggered by the kashmir earthquake however there is still a need of more research to understand the mechanism of intensity and distribution of landslides and their continuous monitoring using remote sensing data at a regional scale this paper provides an overview of remote sensing and gis applications for the kashmir earthquake triggered landslides derived outputs and discusses the lessons learnt advantages limitations and recommendations for future research

instantaneous response functions of overland flow and subsurface stormflow for catchment models the storm response of a catchment can be considered to consist of two components the hillslope response and the stream network response the first of these is examined here simple analytical models of overland flow and subsurface stormflow are presented which are applicable for use in catchment scale models of the rainfall runoff response the hillslope models are meant to describe the collective responses of the hillslopes in a catchment in a simple way that is also physically meaningful the overland flow model is based on a generalization of classic work by horton and of more recent work by rose et al known as rose s approximation the subsurface flow model consists of two components the piston displacement model is used to describe flow in the unsaturated zone between the soil surface and the perched water table the kinematic assumption combined with rose s approximation is used to describe flow in the saturated zone these hillslope models are then used to derive instantaneous response functions for both overland flow and subsurface stormflow under different rainfall intensities and antecedent flow conditions

locating distributed faulting contributions from insar imaging to probabilistic fault displacement hazard analysis pfdha abstract prediction of location and amount of slip for distributed faulting associated to strong earthquakes is a recently explored issue with major implications in terms of hazard assessment currently the best practice involves the applications of probabilistic fault displacement hazard analysis pfdha whose results fit sufficiently well real data in the near range of the primary fault but show considerable inaccuracies in the far range we believe that this inaccuracy descends from the biased earthquake databases used for regression analysis whose data relative to old earthquakes were largely collected only by field surveys focused close to the primary fault i e near range remotely sensed data i e interferometric radar imaging insar offer the opportunity to precisely measure the surface deformation induced by strong earthquakes and thus to explore its possible relation with distributed faulting we analyze the l aquila earthquake case study 29th april 2009 mw 6 3 and explore the correlation between location and slip on distributed faulting and insar derived deformation field we find a significant correlation between occurrence of distributed faulting and profile curvature of the dislocation field in spite of the distance from the primary fault moreover distributed faults tend to occur within the area deformed by the earthquake as imaged by insar data and whose extent is directly proportional to the earthquake magnitude mw according to a dataset of 30 recent earthquakes we then propose that these observations have to be incorporated into the present pfdha practice as limit boundaries to possible scenarios of probabilistic analysis and that an integrated use of field based and remotely data collection have to be implemented following strong earthquakes

rheological properties of loose sands subjected to upward flow the objective of this study was to investigate the rheological properties of loose sands subjected to upward flow by using a vane type rheometer that controlled upward flow in the loose sand specim

space geodetic observations and models of postseismic deformation due to the 2005 m7 6 kashmir pakistan earthquake we use the l band advanced land observing satellite alos and c band envisat interferometric synthetic aperture data and campaign gps observations to study the postseismic deformation due to the 2005 magnitude 7 6 kashmir pakistan earthquake that occurred in the northwestern himalaya envisat data are available from both the descending and ascending orbits and span a time period of 4 5 years immediately following the earthquake 2005 2010 with nearly monthly acquisitions however the envisat data are highly decorrelated due to high topography and snow cover alos data are available from the ascending orbit and span a time period of 2 5 years between 2007 and 2009 over which they remain reasonably well correlated we derive the mean line of sight los postseismic velocity maps in the epicentral area of the kashmir earthquake using persistent scatterer method for envisat data and selective stacking for alos data los velocities from all data sets indicate an uplift decrease in radar range primarily in the hanging wall of the earthquake rupture over the entire period of synthetic aperture radar observations 2005 2010 models of poroelastic relaxation predict uplift of both the footwall and the hanging wall while models of viscoelastic relaxation below the brittle ductile transition predict subsidence increase in radar range in both the footwall and the hanging wall therefore the observed pattern of surface velocities indicates that the early several years of postseismic deformation were dominated by afterslip on the fault plane possibly with a minor contribution from poroelastic rebound kinematic inversions of interferometric synthetic aperture radar and gps data confirm that the observed deformation is consistent with afterslip primarily downdip of the seismic asperity to place constraints on the effective viscosity of the ductile substrate in the study area we subtract the surface deformation predicted by stress driven afterslip model from the mean los velocities and compare the residuals to models of viscoelastic relaxation for a range of assumed viscosities we show that in order to prevent surface subsidence the effective viscosity has to be greater than 1019 pa s

coseismic deformation of the 2002 denali fault earthquake contributions from synthetic aperture radar range offsets 1 we investigate coseismic deformation from the 2002 denali fault earthquake using synthetic aperture radar sar range offsets through a cross correlation technique we form a range offset map from two radar amplitude images a profile across the fault at the trans alaska pipeline shows right lateral strike slip and displacement values that agree with predictions from a gps based slip model to within the uncertainty of the range offset data using a fixed strike slip dip slip ratio taken from geologic measurements we derive a lateral slip estimate from the range offsets this slip estimate shows that the largest geologic offset measurement in a region most accurately represents the full slip value we then invert a combination of the range offsets gps data and geologic surface offset data to solve for the slip distribution on a three dimensional fault model in an elastic half space the combined model displays highly variable slip with values generally increasing from west to east along the denali fault as well as four major patches of high slip on that fault as expected the combined model is nearly identical to the gps based model outside the sar coverage area within the coverage area however the combined model has better constraints and predicts slip values much closer to the geologic measurements the offset map displays asymmetrical displacements across the fault we show that a combination of a bending fault variable slip and the sar line of sight geometry can explain this asymmetry we also discuss how fault geometry influences slip and moment release along the rupture

slip on an active wedge thrust from geodetic observations of the 8 october 2005 kashmir earthquake by combining global positioning system observations of surface displacements and the locations of aftershocks we infer that the 8 october 2005 kashmir earthquake occurred on multiple fault planes mean slip of 5 1 m occurred on a rupture between bagh and balakot with strike 331 and dip 29 additional slip occurred at depth on a nne dipping fault plane extending wnw from balakot and on an intersecting nearly fiat dislocation at 5 km depth forming an active wedge thrust both the simple fault plane and the blind wedge accommodate convergence between peshawar and leh ladakh accumulating at 7 2 mm yr suggesting a 680 150 yr recurrence interval for kashmir 2005 like events

deformation time series generation in areas characterized by large displacement dynamics the sar amplitude pixel offset sbas technique we exploit the amplitude information of a sequence of synthetic aperture radar sar images acquired at different times in order to generate displacement time series in areas characterized by large and or rapid deformation the size of which is on the order of the image s pixel dimensions we follow the same rationale of the small baseline subset sbas differential sar interferometry dinsar approach by coupling the available sar images into pairs characterized by a small separation between the acquisition orbits we exploit the amplitudes of the selected image pairs in order to calculate the relative across track range and along track azimuth pixel offsets po finally we apply the sbas inversion strategy to retrieve the range and azimuth displacement time series this approach referred to as pixel offset po sbas technique has been applied to a set of 25 envisat sar observations of the sierra negra caldera galapagos islands spanning the 2003 2007 time interval the retrieved deformation time series show the capability of the technique to detect and measure the large displacements affecting the inner part of the caldera that in correspondence to the october 2005 eruption reached several meters moreover by comparing the po sbas results to continuous gps measurements we estimate that the accuracy of the po sbas time series is on the order of 1 30th of a pixel for both range and azimuth directions

shallow subsurface storm flow in a forested headwater catchment observations and modeling using a modified topmodel transient perched water tables in the shallow subsurface are observed at the south fork brokenback run catchment in shenandoah national park virginia crest piezometers installed along a hillslope transect show that the development of saturated conditions in the upper 1 5 m of the subsurface is controlled by total precipitation and antecedent conditions not precipitation intensity although soil heterogeneities strongly influence local response the macroporous subsurface storm flow zone provides a hydrological pathway for rapid runoff generation apart from the underlying groundwater zone a conceptualization supported by the two storage system exhibited by hydrograph recession analysis a modified version of topmodel is used to simulate the observed catchment dynamics in this model generalized topographic index theory is applied to the subsurface storm flow zone to account for logarithmic storm flow recessions indicative of linearly decreasing transmissivity with depth vertical drainage to the groundwater zone is required and both subsurface reservoirs are considered to contribute to surface saturation

effects of catchment discretization on topographic index distributions summary digital elevation models dems are widely used in topographically based hydrology models most researchers dealing with dems have worked exclusively with either grid or contour based techniques intercomparisons of these techniques are empirical in nature few in number and limited to a small number of catchments we examine the relative effects of these techniques on the distribution of the topographic index ti for nine idealised hillslope types and eight natural catchments 4 4 83 km 2 in southeast australia in particular we investigate the underlying causes for the frequently observed increase in the ti with grid size a simple analytical model for a parallel planar hillslope indicates that median ti is asymptotic with respect to the number of grid cells and a linear function of grid size we demonstrate that the latter result holds for hillslopes with more complex geometry using a multiple flow direction algorithm we find that hillslope geometry and flow partitioning affect the spatial pattern of the ti and the rate of change m of median ti with grid size this makes it impractical to recommend general guidelines for the value of the directional parameter in flow partitioning algorithms for the natural catchments we show that median ti is also a linear function of grid size and that there is some evidence for a linear relationship between m and the inverse of the median topographic slope throughout the investigation we find that contour dems are less sensitive to changes in resolution than grid dems

role of upslope soil pore pressure on lateral subsurface storm flow dynamics 1 the role of upslope soil pore water pressure on lateral subsurface storm flow dynamics is poorly understood further development of hillslope hydrologic models requires new understanding from field understanding in particular we need new quantifiable measures that link upslope soil pore pressure and water table dynamics to the timing and volume of subsurface storm flow here we examine the relationship between hillslope scale pore pressure and lateral outflow from slope base using the fine temporal resolution hydrometric data 10 min interval from two steep unchanneled concave hillslopes one hillslope fudoji covered by relatively high hydraulic conductivity sandy soil and the other toinotani covered by relatively low hydraulic conductivity clay soil in both hillslopes pore pressures in the area close to the slope base were only weakly related to subsurface storm flow dynamics during periods of storm flow production hillslope discharge was strongly related to the cross sectional area of the upslope saturated layer during slope seepage periods between events hillslope discharge from the highly permeable hillslope was still related to the upslope cross sectional subsurface saturated area however during this same period at the low permeability site hillslope discharge was not related to the upslope subsurface saturated area through intersite comparison we show that the soil matrix permeability has a large impact on the hydrological extension of preferential flow and hence the linkage between upslope pore pressure and subsurface storm flow dynamics

which fault segments ruptured in the 2008 wenchuan earthquake and which did not new evidence from near fault 3d surface displacements derived from sar image offsets the 2008 m w 7 9 wenchuan earthquake ruptured a complex thrust faulting system at the eastern edge of the tibetan plateau and west of sichuan basin though the earthquake has been extensively studied several details about the earthquake such as which fault segments were activated in the earthquake are still not clear this is in part due to difficult field access to the fault zone and in part due to limited near fault observations in interferometric synthetic aperture radar insar observations because of decorrelation in this study we address this problem by estimating sar image offsets that provide near fault ground displacement information and exhibit clear displacement discontinuities across activated fault segments we begin by reanalyzing the coseismic insar observations of the earthquake and then mostly eliminate the strong ionospheric signals that were plaguing previous studies by using additional postevent images we also estimate the sar image offsets and use their results to retrieve the full 3d coseismic surface displacement field the coseismic deformation from the insar and image offset measurements are compared with both global positioning system and field observations the results indicate that our observations provide significantly better information than previous insar studies that were affected by ionospheric disturbances we use the results to present details of the surface faulting offsets along the beichuan fault from the southwest to the northeast and find that there is an obvious right lateral strike slip component as well as thrust faulting along the southern beichuan fault in yingxiu county which was strongly underestimated in earlier studies based on the results we provide new evidence to show that the qingchuan fault was not ruptured in the 2008 wenchuan earthquake a topic debated in field observation studies but show instead that surface faulting occurred on a northward extension of the beichuan fault during or immediately following the mainshock electronic supplement 1 parallel ascending orbit track coseismic deformation 1 http www bssaonline org lookup suppl doi 10 1785 0120160126 dc1

a non linear geodetic data inversion using abic for slip distribution on a fault with an unknown dip angle summary we have developed a method of geodetic data inversion for slip distribution on a fault with an unknown dip angle a common strategy for obtaining slip distribution in previous studies is to first determine the fault geometry by minimizing the square misfit under the assumption of a uniform slip on a rectangular fault and then apply the usual linear inversion technique to estimate a slip distribution on the determined fault it is not guaranteed however that the fault determined under the assumption of a uniform slip gives the best fault geometry for a spatially variable slip distribution the inverse problem is non linear for cases with unknown fault geometries but the non linearity of the problems is actually weak when we can assume the fault surface to be a flat plane in particular when a clear trace of coseismic faults is observed on the earth s surface only the dip angle is an unknown parameter to determine the fault geometry then we regarded the dip angle as an hyperparameter that prescribed the structure of parametric models and obtained the best estimate of the dip angle using akaike s bayesian information criterion abic with the best estimate of the dip angle we can obtain the slip distribution on the fault based on the maximum likelihood principle we applied the method to the insar data of the 1995 dinar turkey earthquake and obtained a much lower dip angle than the previous analyses

the 2005 mw 7 6 kashmir earthquake sub pixel correlation of aster images and seismic waveforms analysis we analyze the m w 7 6 kashmir earthquake of october 8 2005 using sub pixel correlation of aster images to measure ground deformation and modeling seismic waveforms the surface rupture is continuous over a distance of 75 km and cuts across the hazara syntaxis reactivating the tanda and the muzaffarabad faults north of muzaffarabad the surface rupture coincides approximately with the mbt on the southwestern flank of the syntaxis although the two faults have opposite dip angles the rupture terminates abruptly at the hairpin turn of the mbt showing a strong structural control the fault offset is 4 m on average and peaks to 7 m northwest of muzaffarabad the rupture lasted about 25 s and propagated updip and bi laterally 2 km s with a rise time of 2 5 s the shallowness and compactness of the rupture both in time and space provide an explanation for the intensity of destructions this kind of analysis could be achieved as soon as a post earthquake image is available and would provide key information for early assessment of damages the study sheds some light on seismic hazard in the himalaya and raises concern regarding the possibility of a repetition of the 1555 event which presumably ruptured the himalayan front south of the kashmir basin and may have reached a magnitude m w 8

gis based landslide susceptibility mapping for the 2005 kashmir earthquake region abstract the m w 7 6 october 8 2005 kashmir earthquake triggered several thousand landslides throughout the himalaya of northern pakistan and india these were concentrated in six different geomorphic geologic anthropogenic settings a spatial database which included 2252 landslides was developed and analyzed using aster satellite imagery and geographical information system gis technology a multi criterion evaluation was applied to determine the significance of event controlling parameters in triggering the landslides the parameters included lithology faults slope gradient slope aspect elevation land cover rivers and roads the results showed four classes of landslide susceptibility furthermore they indicated that lithology had the strongest influence on landsliding particularly when the rock is highly fractured such as in shale slate clastic sediments and limestone and dolomite moreover the proximity of the landslides to faults rivers and roads was also an important factor in helping to initiate failures in addition landslides occurred particularly in moderate elevations on south facing slopes shrub land grassland and also agricultural land were highly susceptible to failures while forested slopes had few landslides one third of the study area was highly or very highly susceptible to future landsliding and requires immediate mitigation action the rest of the region had a low or moderate susceptibility to landsliding and remains relatively stable this study supports the view that 1 earthquake triggered landslides are concentrated in specific zones associated with event controlling parameters and 2 in the western himalaya deforestation and road construction contributed significantly to landsliding during and shortly after earthquakes