Abstract
The northeastern region (NER) of India has a number of complex regional geological structures, out of which the Dauki fault (DF) is a prominent one. The E-W trending reverse DF, which is referred to go through the southern margin of Shillong Plateau (SP), have played major role in the regional deformation of the adjoining areas and was believed to be active during the Late Quaternary time. Previous paleoseismological studies conducted on the eastern and western part of the DF, Bangladesh, revealed that the fault ruptured in AD 849–920 and AD 1548 respectively. However there were no studies on the DF from southern side of the SP, India. For the first time, from Indian side, soft sediment deformation structures (SSDS) are reported from five trenches in and around the DF zone, SP. Close to the Dauki village, five trenches in the eastern part of the DF, SP, show presence of micro faulting, sand dykes, disturbed strata, and water escape structures. The detailed investigation of SSDS indicates that the origin for deformation is seismic trigger. The 14C AMS dating of deformation structures generated coseismically by earthquakes suggest three seismic events occurred between 130 and 920 year BP, 5415 to 9140 year BP, and at about 4285 year BP. This study confirms that DF is indeed active, at least, since the mid-Holocene. More trenching and dating of seismically induced deformation features are needed to accurately calculate the recurrence interval of major earthquakes that can strike the fast-expanding urban areas in India and Bangladesh.
Paleoliquefaction Studies and the Evaluation of Seismic Hazard
