Earthquake swarms near eastern Himalayan Syntaxis along Jiali Fault in Tibet: A seismotectonic appraisal

• Seismotectonics of ten tectonic swarm-sequence in eastern Himalayan Syntaxis analysed.
• Composite fault plane solutions of swarms indicate right lateral slip along Jiali Fault.
• Hydrofracturing and periodic pore pressure variations, cause for swarm generation.

The seismotectonic characteristics of ten repeated earthquake swarm sequence within a seismic cluster along Jiali Fault in eastern Himalayan Syntaxis (EHS) have been analysed. The swarms are spatially disposed in and around Yigong Lake (a natural lake formed by blocking of Yigong River by landslide) and are characterized by low magnitude, crustal events with low to moderate b values. Ms : mb discriminant functions though indicate anomalous nature of the earthquakes within swarm but are considered as natural events that occurred under condition of high apparent stress and stress gradients. Composite fault plane solutions of selected swarms indicate strike–slip sense of shear on fault planes; solution parameters show low plunging compression and tensional axes along NW–SE and NE–SW respectively with causative fault plane oriented ENE–WSW, dipping steeply towards south or north. The fault plane is in excellent agreement with the disposition and tectonic movement registered by right lateral Jiali Fault. The process of pore pressure perturbation and resultant ‘r–t plot’ with modelled diffusivity (D = 0.12 m2/s) relates the diffusion of pore pressure to seismic sequence in a fractured poro-elastic fluid saturated medium at average crustal depth of 15–20 km. The low diffusivity depicts a highly fractured interconnected medium that is generated due to high stress activity near the eastern syntaxial bent of Himalaya. It is proposed that hydro fracturing with respect to periodic pore pressure variations is responsible for generation of swarms in the region. The fluid pressure generated due to shearing and infiltrations of surface water within dilated seismogenic fault (Jiali Fault) are causative factors.

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