Portable optically stimulated luminescence age map of a paleoseismic exposure

The quality and quantity of geochronologic data used to constrain the history of major earthquakes in a region exerts a first-order control on the accuracy of seismic hazard assessments that affect millions of people. However, evaluations of geochronological data are limited by uncertainties related to inherently complex depositional processes that may vary spatially and temporally. To improve confidence in models of earthquake timing, we use a high-density suite of radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) ages with a grid of 342 portable OSL samples to explore spatiotemporal trends in geochronological data across an exemplary normal fault colluvial wedge exposure. The data reveal a two-dimensional age map of the paleoseismic exposure and demonstrate how vertical and horizontal trends in age relate to dominant sedimentary facies and soil characteristics at the site. Portable OSL data provide critical context for the interpretation of 14C and OSL ages, show that geochronologic age boundaries between pre- and post-earthquake deposits do not match stratigraphic contacts, and provide the basis for selecting alternate Bayesian models of earthquake timing. Our results demonstrate the potential to use emergent, portable OSL methods to dramatically improve paleoseismic constraints on earthquake timing.

A geomorphic-process-based cellular automata model of colluvial wedge morphology and stratigraphy

The development of colluvial wedges at the base of fault scarps following normal-faulting earthquakes serves as a sedimentary record of paleoearthquakes and is thus crucial in assessing seismic hazard. Although there is a large body of observations of colluvial wedge development, connecting this knowledge to the physics of sediment transport can open new frontiers in our understanding. To explore theoretical colluvial wedge evolution, we develop a cellular automata model driven by the production and disturbance (e.g. bioturbative reworking) of mobile regolith and fault scarp collapse. We consider both 90° and 60° dipping faults and allow the colluvial wedges to develop over 2,000 model years. By tracking sediment transport time, velocity, and provenance, we classify cells into analogs for the debris and wash sedimentary facies commonly described in paleoseismic studies. High values of mobile regolith production and disturbance rates produce relatively larger and more wash facies dominated wedges, whereas lower values produced relatively smaller, debris facies dominated wedges. Higher lateral collapse rates lead to more debris facies relative to wash facies. Many of the modelled colluvial wedges fully developed within 2000 model years after the earthquake with many being much faster when process rates are high. Finally, for scenarios with the same amount of vertical displacement, different size colluvial wedges developed depending on the rates of geomorphic processes and fault dip. A change in these variables, say by environmental change such as precipitation rates, could theoretically result in different colluvial wedge facies assemblages for the same characteristic earthquake rupture scenario. Finally, the stochastic nature of collapse events, when coupled with high disturbance, illustrate that multiple phases of colluvial deposition are theoretically possible for a single earthquake event.

Surface rupture and landscape response within the core of the great Mw 8.3 1934 earthquake mesoseismal area: the case of the Khutti Khola

<p>Great earthquakes generated along the Himalayan mega-thrust plate boundary have been shown to rupture the surface. The Mw 8.3 1934 Bihar-Nepal earthquake is one of these major seismotectonic events. Previous studies focused on sites located at the western end of the fault trace concluded that the surface rupture associated with this earthquake is still locally preserved. Here we document a new site, along the Khutti Khola rivercut, in the core of the mesoseismal area. The effects of the earthquake in that area were described as cataclysmic, generating massive damages, landslides blocking one of the local rivers at 4 sites. The Khutti river cuts the frontal range, incising a 4 m- high cumulated scarp exposed along a 19 m-long stretch of Siwaliks claystone-sandstone and alluvial deposits. A detailed study of the river cut revealed the presence of faults emplacing Siwaliks over quaternary alluvials. These units are sealed by a colluvial wedge and wash as well as by recent underformed alluvials. The C14 radiocarbon analyses of 10 detrital charcoals collected reveal that the last surface-rupturing event at that site occurred after the 17<sup>th</sup> century and prior to the post-bomb deposition of the young alluvials. The only historical earthquake known within that period is the 1934 earthquake, inferring that for this event the rupture reached the surface at that site. The rupture was followed by rapid aggradation and sealed by ~2 meters of sediments. In addition to being another rare example for the preservation of the 1934 earthquake, these observations demonstrate that, despite their magnitude and potential surface rupture, the study of the great Himalayan paleo-earthquakes are still challenging however necessary to constrain their lateral extent.</p>