Reconstruction of Late Quaternary climate and seismicity using fluvial landforms in Pindar River valley, Central Himalaya, Uttarakhand, India

The spatial variability in the incision/uplift rate, based on river strath terraces reveals that the terrain is undergoing differential crustal deformation. Two zones of relatively high crustal deformation are identified. These are located in the vicinity of the Main Central Thrust (MCT) and is attributed to the activity along the transverse fault and the in the inner Lesser Himalaya for which the thrust propagated fold associated with regional north-south compression is implicated. The study suggests that fluvial landforms (valley-fill and strath terraces) in the Pinder river valley are genetically related to the multi-millennial scale changes in the ISM and spatial and temporal changes in the crustal deformation associated with regional compression.