Earthquake induced liquefaction features in the Karewas of Kashmir Valley North-West Himalayas, India: Implication to paleoseismicity

Earthquake induced liquefaction features found in the Karewas of Kashmir Valley are potential tools for estimating energy center, magnitude and peak ground acceleration of the paleoearthquakes. Size, pattern and spatial distribution of liquefaction features and in-situ geotechnical data were collected at the paleoliquefaction sites to assess the magnitude and peak ground acceleration of the paleoearthquake. The magnitude of paleoearthquakes was estimated to be of the order of (Mw = 6.2) using “Magnitude bound method” and “In-situ testing of geotechnical properties and assessment of liquefaction potential of liquefied beds (source stratum) using cyclic stress method”. The peak ground acceleration computed were in the range of 0.27 g to 0.83 g using cyclic stress method and 0.30 g using attenuation equation NDMA [21].