Paleostress Reconstruction from Striated Fault Data Sets in the Kirthar Fold Belt,Southern Pakistan

The Kirthar fold belt (KFB) is one of the N-S-trending portions of the thrust belts of western Pakistan. In the study area (some 150 km north of Karachi), the KFB consists of large-scale, open NNW-SSE anticlines that affect the outcropping Kirthar and Nari formations. From an analysis of more than 200 minor strike-slip and reverse faults from 14 different data stations, two main σ₁ directions were identified, ENE and ESE. The ESE stress is interpreted as the regional, primary stress field, and the ENE direction as a deflection of the former caused by the presence and activity of NNW-trending macrostructures (folds and strike-slip faults).