A collision between the Indian and Eurasian plates caused the Afghan earthquake
New Delhi: Earthquakes in the border region of eastern Afghanistan and western Pakistan along active faults are the results of the Northeast moving Indian plate colliding with the Eurasia plate, according to a brief technical report on the June 22, 2022 earthquake on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border region, released by the National Centre for Seismology (NCS), New Delhi.
A system of Northeast-Southwest trending active faults, to the south of the Hindu Kush ranges, parallel to the plate boundary close to the Pakistan- Afghanistan border region appears to be the causative source for the earthquakes in this region.
The India plate is underthrusting beneath the Eurasia plate, causing mountains including the Himalayan, the Karakoram, the Pamir, and the Hindu Kush ranges.
A shallow focused strong earthquake in this region caused strong damage in the epicentral and surrounding regions. The fault plane solution of the event indicated predominantly strike-slip faulting, either left-lateral slip on a NorthEast-striking fault or right-lateral slip on a Northwest-striking fault.
However, the NE-striking focal mechanism corroborates well with the orientation of the active faults in the region. The event shook the region strongly and as reported by media, it killed around 1000 people in Afghanistan region and caused huge damage to property in the epicentral region.
Significant damage in the Pakistan region is also reported, however, no deaths reported so far. Several seismological observatories of NCS, Ministry of Earth Sciences, India recorded the mainshock, including the Udhampur observatory that recorded the event.
The intensity map generated using an empirical relationship indicates a strong shaking in the epicentral region. Evidently, the shaking was felt in different parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
“The damage pattern, as reported by media, corroborates well with the rupture pattern of the earthquake along the left lateral striking fault, steeply dipping westward,” the report stated.
Top photo credit: @BakhtarNA|Twitter
– global bihari bureau
