GIS based spatial data analysis for landslide susceptibility mapping

Landslide susceptibility map delineates the potential zones for landslides occurrence. The paper presents a statistical approach through spatial data analysis in GIS for landslide susceptibility mapping in parts of Sikkim Himalaya. Six important causative factors for landslide occurrences were selected and corresponding thematic data layers were prepared in GIS. Topographic maps,satellite image,field data and published maps constitute the input data for thematic layer preparation. Numerical weights for different categories of these factors were determined based on a statistical approach and the weighted thematic layers were integrated in GIS environment to generate the landslide susceptibility map of the area. The landslide susceptibility map classifies the area into five different landslide susceptible zones i.e.,very high,high,moderate,low and very low. This map was validated using the existing landslide distribution in the area.     

Quaternary glaciations of the Rongbuk Valley,Tibet

Randomisation tests on boulder weathering data distinguish moraines of four different ages in the Rongbuk Valley, all deposited by valley glaciers flowing northward into Tibet from the Himalaya. Lichenometry utilising subgenus Rhizocarpon distinguishes two groups of moraines, those <100 yr old and those older than several thousand years. The degree of soil development has a similar, limited utility in relative-age dating these moraines. The radiocarbon ages of calcium carbonate coatings in the lower horizons of moraine soils provide minimum-limiting ages of 1900 yr BP for the penultimate advance of the Rongbuk glacier (Samdopo moraine) and 9500 yr BP for the Rongbuk moraine, the moraine suggested by previous workers to represent the last glacial maximum. Equilibrium-line depression associated with the Rongbuk moraine probably was slight, <200 m. The small magnitude of this depression relative to glaciers in other mountain ranges could relate to a weakening of the monsoon in full glacial times, recent tectonic uplift, and/or to the insensitivity of these high-altitude glaciers to lowering temperatures in the rain shadow of Mount Everest.     

Fluid evolution and thermal structure in the rapidly exhuming gneiss complex of Namche Barwa–Gyala Peri, eastern Himalayan syntaxis

High‐grade gneisses (amphibolite–granulite facies) of the Namche Barwa and Gyala Peri massifs, in the eastern Himalayan syntaxis, have been unroofed from metamorphic depths in the late Tertiary–Recent. Rapid exhumation (2–5 mm year^?1) has resulted in a pronounced shallow conductive thermal anomaly beneath the massifs and the intervening Tsangpo gorge. The position of the 300 °C isotherm has been estimated from fluid inclusions using CO₂–H₂O immiscibility phase equilibria to be between 2.5 and 6.2 km depth below surface. Hence, the near‐surface average thermal gradient exceeds 50 °C km^?1 beneath valleys, although the thermal gradient is relatively lower beneath the high mountains. The original metamorphic fluid in the gneisses was >90% CO₂. This fluid was displaced by incursion of brines from overlying marine sedimentary rocks that have since been largely removed by erosion. Brines can exceed 60 wt% dissolved salts, and include Ca, Na, K and Fe chlorides. These brines were remobilized during the earliest stages of uplift at >500 °C. During exhumation, incursion of abundant topography‐driven surface waters resulted in widespread fracture‐controlled hydrothermal activity and brine dilution down to the brittle–ductile transition. Boiling water was particularly common at shallow levels (<2.5 km) beneath the Yarlung Tsangpo valley, and numerous hot springs occur at the surface in this valley. Dry steam is not a major feature of the hydrothermal system in the eastern syntaxis (in contrast to the western syntaxis at Nanga Parbat), but some dry steam fluids may have developed locally.     

P–T paths reconstruction of a collisional event: The example of the Thiviers-Payzac Unit in the Variscan French Massif Central

Because of late metamorphic and tectonic overprints, the reconstruction of prograde parts of P–T paths is often difficult. In the SW Variscan French Massif Central, the Thiviers-Payzac Unit (TPU) is the uppermost allochthon emplaced above underlying units. The TPU experienced a Barrovian metamorphism coeval with a top-to-the-NW ductile shearing (D2 event) in Early Carboniferous times (ca. 360–350 Ma). The tectonic setting of the D2 event, compression or synconvergence extension, remains unclear. Using the THERMOCALC software and the model system MnNCKFMASH, the peak P–T conditions are estimated from garnet rims and matrix minerals and the prograde evolution is deduced from garnet core compositions. The combination of these two approaches demonstrates that the TPU experienced pressure and temperature increases before reaching peak conditions at 6.6–9.0 +/− 1.2 kbar and 615–655 +/− 35 °C. This kind of P–T path shows that the regional D2 event corresponds to crustal thickening.     

The Keylong Serai rock avalanche, NW Indian Himalaya: geomorphology and palaeoseismic implications

This paper describes the geomorphology of rock avalanche deposits that resulted from a major mountain slope failure at Keylong Serai on the north slope of the Indian High Himalaya, an area of high altitude desert. Cosmogenic ¹⁰Be exposure ages of the widespread deposits indicate their formation 7,510 ± 110 years BP. Proxy records for this region of the Himalaya imply a similar dry climatic regime to the present day at this time, suggesting that precipitation was an unlikely trigger for this rock avalanche. An alternative mechanism associated with rock-wall stress relaxation is also unlikely, given the earlier timing of deglaciation in this area. Given the enormous volume of debris generated by this event, the most likely trigger for this mountain collapse and resultant rock avalanche is high ground acceleration during a great earthquake (M > 8). It is proposed that rock avalanches can be used to extend the limited palaeoseismic record and improve information on the recurrence interval of great earthquakes within the Himalaya arc.     

Active tectonic influence on the evolution of drainage and landscape: Geomorphic signatures from frontal and hinterland areas along the Northwestern Himalaya, India

The Kangra Re-entrant in the NW Himalaya is one of the most seismically active regions, falling into Seismic Zone V along the Himalaya. In 1905 the area experienced one of the great Himalayan earthquakes with magnitude 7.8. The frontal fault system – the Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT) associated with the foreland fold – Janauri Anticline, along with other major as well as secondary hinterland thrust faults, provides an ideal site to study the ongoing tectonic activity which has influenced the evolution of drainage and landscape in the region. The present study suggests that the flat-uplifted surface in the central portion of the Janauri Anticline represents the paleo-exit of the Sutlej River. It is suggested that initially when the tectonic activity propagated southward along the HFT the Janauri Anticline grew along two separate fault segments (north and south faults), the gap between these two fault and the related folds allowed the Sutlej River to flow across this area. Later, the radial propagation of the faults towards each other resulted in an interaction of the fault tips, which caused the rapid uplift of the area. Rapid uplift resulted in the disruption and longitudinal deflection of the Sutlej river channel. Fluvial deposits on the flat surface suggest that an earlier fluvial system flowed across this area in the recent past. Geomorphic signatures, like the sharp mountain fronts along the HFT in some places, as well as along various hinterland subordinate faults like the Nalagarh Thrust (NaT), the Barsar Thrust (BaT) and the Jawalamukhi Thrust (JMT); the change in the channel pattern, marked by a tight incised meander of the Beas channel upstream of the JMT indicate active tectonic movements in the area. The prominent V-shaped valleys of the Beas and Sutlej rivers, flowing across the thrust fronts, with Vf values ranging from <1.0–1.5 are also suggestive of ongoing tectonic activity along major and hinterland faults. This suggests that not only is the HFT system active, but also the other major and secondary hinterland faults, viz. the MBT, MCT, SnT, NaT, BaT, and the JMT can be shown to have undergone recent tectonic displacement.     

Geology of the Gorny Altai subduction–accretion complex, southern Siberia: Tectonic evolution of an Ediacaran–Cambrian intra-oceanic arc-trench system

The Gorny Altai region in southern Siberia is one of the key areas in reconstructing the tectonic evolution of the western segment of the Central Asian Orogenic Belt (CAOB). This region features various orogenic elements of Late Neoproterozoic–Early Paleozoic age, such as an accretionary complex (AC), high-P/T metamorphic (HP) rocks, and ophiolite (OP), all formed by ancient subduction–accretion processes. This study investigated the detailed geology of the Upper Neoproterozoic to Lower Paleozoic rocks in a traverse between Gorno-Altaisk city and Lake Teletskoy in the northern part of the region, and in the Kurai to Chagan-Uzun area in the southern part. The tectonic units of the studied areas consist of (1) the Ediacaran (=Vendian)–Early Cambrian AC, (2) ca. 630 Ma HP complex, (3) the Ediacaran–Early Cambrian OP complex, (4) the Cryogenian–Cambrian island arc complex, and (5) the Middle Paleozoic fore-arc sedimentary rocks. The AC consists mostly of paleo-atoll limestone and underlying oceanic island basalt with minor amount of chert and serpentinite. The basaltic lavas show petrochemistry similar to modern oceanic plateau basalt. The 630 Ma HP complex records a maximum peak metamorphism at 660 °C and 2.0 GPa that corresponds to 60 km-deep burial in a subduction zone, and exhumation at ca. 570 Ma. The Cryogenian island arc complex includes boninitic rocks that suggest an incipient stage of arc development. The Upper Neoproterozoic–Lower Paleozoic complexes in the Gorno-Altaisk city to Lake Teletskoy and the Kurai to Chagan-Uzun areas are totally involved in a subhorizontal piled-nappe structure, and overprinted by Late Paleozoic strike-slip faulting. The HP complex occurs as a nappe tectonically sandwiched between the non- to weakly metamorphosed AC and the OP complex. These lithologic assemblages and geologic structure newly documented in the Gorny Altai region are essentially similar to those of the circum-Pacific (Miyashiro-type) orogenic belts, such as the Japan Islands in East Asia and the Cordillera in western North America. The Cryogenian boninite-bearing arc volcanism indicates that the initial stage of arc development occurred in a transient setting from a transform zone to an incipient subduction zone. The less abundant of terrigenous clastics from mature continental crust and thick deep-sea chert in the Ediacaran–Early Cambrian AC may suggest that the southern Gorny Altai region evolved in an intra-oceanic arc-trench setting like the modern Mariana arc, rather than along the continental arc of a major continental margin. Based on geological, petrochemical, and geochronological data, we synthesize the Late Neoproterozoic to Early Paleozoic tectonic history of the Gorny Altai region in the western CAOB.     

Discovery of Jurassic ammonoids from the Shyok suture zone to the northeast of Chang La Pass, Ladakh, northwest India and its tectonic significance

Abstract   Callovian (late Middle Jurassic) ammonoids Macrocephalites and Jeanneticeras were recovered from the Shyok suture zone, northeast of Chang La Pass, Ladakh, northwest India. They are the first reliable Jurassic fossils and the oldest chronologic data from the Shyok suture zone. The ammonoid-bearing Jurassic strata, newly defined as the Tsoltak Formation, consist largely of terrigenous mudstone with thin sandstone beds and were probably a part of the continental basement to the Cretaceous Ladakh Arc.     

Small-scale upper mantle convection and orogeny of Tianshan Mountains in China

In this study, from the travel time data recorded in the Tianshan passive seismic array experiment, we present the P-wave velocity structure of the upper mantle down to 660 km along the Kuqa-Kuitun pro-file in terms of seismic tomography technique. Based on the P-wave velocity model, we derive the corresponding 2D upper mantle density model. The 2D small-scale convection of the upper mantle underneath the Tianshan Mountains in China driven by the density anomalies is simulated using the hybrid finite element method combining with the marker-in-cell technique. The main features of the upper mantle convection and the reciprocation between the convection and mountain building are in-vestigated. The results manifest that (1) in the upper mantle underneath the Junggar basin and North Tianshan exists a counterclockwise convection, which scale is ~ 500 km; (2) underneath the Tarim ba-sin and South Tianshan exists a clockwise northward convection, which is relatively weak; (3) the convective velocity at the top of the upper mantle underneath the Tianshan Mountains in China should not be less than 20 mm/a, while considering the dependent of convective velocity on the viscosity; (4) the northward extrusion of the Tarim block plays a key role in the Cenozoic Tianshan mountain building and the present-day tectonic deformation of the Tianshan range is related closely to the upper mantle convection; and (5) the northward subduction of the Tarim block does not influence obviously the up-per mantle convection.