PLATE DRIVING FORCES The forces acting on plates may be divided into forces that act on their bottom

surfaces and forces that act on their

Fig. 1 The schematic for different types of plate driving forces.

margins/boundaries. The bottom forces arise due to relative motion between the lithospheric plate and the viscous asthenosphere. For plate tectonics the important feature of mantle theology is that viscous flow in the upper mantle is possible. a. Boundary Forces A number of boundary forces have been postulated since the dawn of the tectonic theory, including ridge push, slab pull, trench suction, collisional resistance, and basal drag. In the following section, the basic physical properties of each of the main forces believed to be involved in the total net motion of plates will be described and defined (fig. 1). Ridge Push: Figure 2 has been considered in two different manners, as a body force and as a boundary force. As a body force, ridge push has been attributed to the cooling and thickening of the oceanic lithosphere with age. This type of force can be thought of as created by the horizontal pressure gradient attributable to the cooling and thickening of the oceanic lithosphere, and calculated as Fig. 2 Schematic of Ridge Push forces. this force integrated over the area of the oceanic portion of a given plate. In this respect, Ridge Push can be considered a body force, rather than a boundary force acting over the oceanic part of a plate. When making such a calculation however, one must take into account that oceanic lithosphere older than 90 Ma is no longer cooling significantly, and therefore not contributing to the effective ridge push force. The alternative, Ridge Push as a boundary force, is caused by the "gravity wedging" effect. This effect results from warm, buoyant mantle upwelling beneath the ridge crest which causes a topography-induced horizontal pressure gradient. Here the force would be acting as a boundary force at the edge of the lithospheric plate, proportional to the length of the ridge, and not as a body force over the entire oceanic portion of the plate. In both of the above cases Ridge Push would be amplified, by as much as a factor of two when hot spot activity is centered on a spreading ridge axis. This is important when considering the effects of ridge push as a cumulative force acting on all the plates, and must be taken into account in any net force calculations.

Slab Pull: Slab pull forces (Fig. 3) are derived from the negative buoyancy of the cold subducting lithosphere and are dependent on the angle, temperature, age and volume of the subducting slab, as well as the length of the respective trench. Slab Pull is considered a boundary force, and from most estimates is responsible for some of the largest forces, or torques in the driving system. Several empirical studies have Fig. 3 Schematic of Slab Pull and Collisional shown a strong correlation between Resistance forces. plate velocities and age of subducting oceanic lithosphere for plates with long subduction boundaries. This might suggest that slab pull is the dominant acting force. However, there are several plates that have little or no portion of their boundaries subducting and it is therefore important to look for other contributing forces. Collisional Resistance Related very closely to Slab Pull is Collisional Resistance (fig. 3). For every subducting slab there is an associated resistive force provided by the relatively high viscosity of the warmer, more ductile upper mantle. Together, the negative buoyancy of the sinking slab and the collisional resistance force in mantle is called the Net Slab Force. Trench Suction Trench Suction forces are observed in the overriding plate at subduction zones as a net trenchward pull, often times resulting in back arc extension. Trench Suction is thought to result from small-scale convection in the mantle wedge, driven by the Fig. 4 Schematic of trench suction and slab roll-back subducting lithosphere (Fig 4). This forces. force is difficult to isolate from other forces because of how little we know about mantle convection in the shallow subsurface. Slab Roll-Back. This is caused by the small-scale convection current on the back-side of subducting slabs. We see this phenomena today in the Hellenic Arc of Greece, and possibly in the western Pacific. This current produces a pull away from the trench, consequently rolling back the hinge of the subducting slab. Both trench suction forces can be thought of as a conservation of matter argument requiring an asthenospheric counter-current in the wedge-shaped region between the down-going slab and the upper plate. It is this countercurrent that will result in the trenchward pull of the overriding plate.

Plate Tectonic Resistive Plate Tectonic Resistive forces (fig. 5) are exerted on the overriding plate in a subduction zone at the contact with the descending slab. This force is thought to result in a shear stress that is distributed over the subduction thrust interface, that dips in the direction of Fig. 5 Schematic of Plate Tectonic and Basal Shear Traction the plate's interior. However, Resistive forces. tectonic resistive forces are considered equal and opposite in sign to the force exerted on the subducting plate, and therefore do not contribute greatly to the net driving force for plate motion. Basal Shear Traction The last major force, Basal Shear Traction or Basal Drag (fig. 5) is important because of its relevance to the fundamental question of whether plate motions are active or passive. Basal Shear Traction is the resistance or dragging force associated with the interface between the upper mantle and the lithosphere. Today this force is thought to be small, but until we know more about the coupling between the lithosphere and the mantle is better constrained, we cannot be certain how important it is. It is thought to have a small magnitude per unit area, but when spread over the entire under-surface of big plates can result in a large cumulative resistance. The lack of good correlation between plate velocity and surface area has traditionally been used to argue against Basal Shear Traction (BST) as an important driving force. In recent models researchers have considered BST a passive force, either driving or resisting plate motion, but not dominating plate motion. The contribution of BST on the motion of plates depends on whether the flow pattern at the lithosphere-mantle interface is radial or unidirectional and parallel or anti-parallel with respect to the overlying plate motions. However, the mechanical nature of this interface and its flow pattern are unknown. Other researchers are advocates of drag forces playing an important role in driving plate motion, while the plates remain passive. In this case the lateral motion of the plates would be caused by the mantle's exertion of a drag force on the overriding lithosphere, above warm upwellings, which would subsequently create a deviatoric stress regime.

b. Bottom Forces (Convection Current) The feasibility of mantle convection is accepted but there is still some doubt as to the form it takes. This is in part due to uncertainty as to the role played by the seismic discontinuities at 400 km and 670 km depth, which bound the upper mantle transition zone. The discontinuities are not sharp, and are understood to represent mineral phase changes rather than compositional differences (as, for example, the crust-mantle and Fig. 6 Schematic of whole mantle and layered mantle convection current core-mantle boundaries). The upper discontinuity marks the olivine-spinel phase change, the lower one represents the phase change from spinel to perovskite structure, with accompanying changes in density and elastic parameters. In principle, mass can be carried by convection currents across these discontinuities. The 670 km discontinuity is close to the maximum depth of seismicity in subduction zones, and may be where the subducting plate is absorbed into the mantle. There are two main models of mantle convection, each with an interface at the 670 km seismic discontinuity. An important change in viscosity occurs at this level. In whole mantle convection (Fig. 6a) the viscosity doubles from the upper mantle to the lower mantle and there is a net flow of material across the boundary. In this model, convection ensures that the entire mantle is well mixed mechanically, and the phase changes at 400 and 670 km have only a small effect on the temperature gradient. This model agrees with much of the available evidence. The alternative layered convection model has distinct convecting layers in the upper and lower mantle (Fig. 6b). There are two ways in which this can take place. The upper and lower convection patterns in a vertical section may represent circulations in the same sense (e.g., both clockwise or both anticlockwise) or in opposite senses (e.g., one clockwise and the other anticlockwise). In each case the radial velocity is zero at 670 km depth and there is no mass transfer across the discontinuity; the material in each flow pattern spreads out along the boundary. However the models imply different types of coupling between the layers. Opposite senses of circulation in the layers would cause little or no shear between the tangential flows at the boundary, resulting in mechanical coupling between the layers. Cold material sinking in the upper mantle would overlie hot material rising in the lower mantle. However, in the
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layered flow patterns have the same sense of circulation (as in Fig. 6b), hot material rising in the upper mantle overlies hot material rising in the lower mantle, so that the flow regimes are coupled thermally. This model has a strong velocity shear across the 670 km discontinuity, which requires a large and abrupt change in viscosity at this depth; viscosity in the lower mantle would need to be at least two orders of magnitude smaller than in the upper mantle. Estimates of mantle viscosity indicate the opposite: viscosity is higher in the lower mantle than in the upper mantle. A model of layered convection assumes that there is no mass transfer across the discontinuity. The upper and lower mantles are well mixed individually, but the separation of the flow patterns at the discontinuity means that they may have distinct chemical composition & Because there is no convective flow across it, heat can only cross the boundary by conduction. The 670 km discontinuity therefore acts as a thermal boundary, with a large temperature change of perhaps 500-1000 deg K across it. Thus, the temperature profile in the lower mantle, although maintained adiabatic by the convection, would be 500-1000 deg K higher than in whole-mantle convection. This would result in a smaller temperature change across the CMB, a less-steep temperature gradient in the D"-layer, and so a lower heat flux from the core. The long-term rate of cooling of the Earth would thereby be reduced. The problem of understanding mantle convection is complicated by the non-uniform structure and theology of the mantle. As yet, there is no complete picture of how the various factors that influence convection act together. The convection pattern depends strongly on what happens physically and thermodynamically at the 670 km discontinuity. This can only be inferred indirectly. Our understanding of the discontinuity is incomplete, but it is essential to resolving the real pattern of mantle convection.

PLATE MARGINS AND SEISMICITY OF THE EARTH There are three types of plate margins: 1. Constructive plate margin/Divergent boundaries - where new crust is generated as the plates pull away from each other. 2. Destructive plate margin /Convergent boundaries - where crust is destroyed as one plate dives under another. 3. Conservative plate margin /Transform boundaries - where crust is neither produced nor destroyed as the plates slide horizontally past each other. 1. Divergent boundaries Divergent boundaries occur along spreading centers where plates are moving apart and new crust is created by magma pushing up from the mantle. The place where new crust is formed in ocean due to the divergence of plates is known as mid oceanic ridges. The vast majority of these boundaries are located in the oceans, however it is evident that these boundaries also exist in in continental regions. These areas of continental diverging boundaries are known as rift zones. A good example is the East African rift valley. Places where mid oceanic ridges have been identified are: Atlantic, India , Antarctica, South Pacific oceans, Norwegian sea, Arctic basin (Fig.1 ). Perhaps the best known of the divergent boundaries Fig. 2 Map showing the Mid-Atlantic is the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This submerged mountain Ridge splitting Iceland and range, which extends from the Arctic Ocean to separating the North American and beyond the southern tip of Africa, is but one Eurasian Plates. The map also segment of the global mid-ocean ridge system that shows Reykjavik, the capital of encircles the Earth. The rate of spreading along the Iceland, the Thingvellir area, and the Mid-Atlantic Ridge averages about 2.5 centimeters locations of some of Iceland's active per year (cm/yr), or 25 km in a million years. This volcanoes (red triangles), including rate may seem slow by human standards, but Krafla. because this process has been going on for millions of years, it has resulted in plate movement of thousands of kilometers. Seafloor spreading over the past 100 to 200 million years has caused the Atlantic Ocean to grow from a tiny inlet of water between the continents of Europe, Africa, and the Americas into the vast ocean that exists today. The volcanic country of Iceland, which straddles the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, offers scientists a natural laboratory for studying on land the processes also occurring along the submerged parts of a spreading ridge. Iceland is splitting along the spreading center between the North American and Eurasian Plates, as North America moves westward relative to Eurasia. The consequences of plate movement are easy to see around Krafla Volcano, in the northeastern part of Iceland (Fig. 2). Here, existing ground cracks have widened and new ones appear every few months.

From 1975 to 1984, numerous episodes of rifting (surface cracking) took place along the Krafla fissure zone. Some of these rifting events were accompanied by volcanic activity; the ground would gradually rise 1-2 m before abruptly dropping, signalling an impending eruption. Rift: Continental rifting occurs as a result of crustal extension and the associated thinning of the continental crust leading, possibly to seafloor spreading and the consequent formation of oceanic basins. Rift systems are fairly common on the continental crust, because in the sea regions, the lithosphere tends to be under tensional stresses.

Fig. 1

Presently active regions of continental extension include the East African Rift, the Baikal Rift, the Rhine Graben, the Rio Grande Rift and the Basin and Range Province, however, the continental crust is riddled with extinct and failed rifts. The majority of rift valleys originate along lines of relative crustal weakness (much of the East African Rift follows intercratonic mobile belts), often generated by a relaxation of compressive stresses after continental collision. As a result, many rift valleys form approximately perpendicular to, and soon after the formation of major orogenic belts; for example the Baikal Rift in response to the Himalayan Orogeny, and the Rhine Graben after the Alpine Orogeny. Similarly, continental rifting forming the Bay of Biscay and other rift basins in the Atlantic Ocean region (i.e. North Sea, English Channel, Rockall Trough) began soon after the cessation of plate collision in the earliest Permian, at the end of the Variscan Orogeny. When a lithospheric slab of uniform thickness is moved over an area of anomalously hot mantle (i.e. a hot spot). Thermal uplift will produce a dome, which in turn will be subject to erosion, thus thinning the crust. Such rifts are associated with copious volcanism. In East Africa, spreading processes have already torn Saudi Arabia away from the rest of the African continent, forming the Red Sea. The actively splitting African Plate and the Arabian Plate meet in what geologists call a triple junction, where the Red Sea meets the
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Gulf of Aden. A new spreading center may be developing under Africa along the East African Rift Zone. When the continental crust stretches beyond its limits, tension cracks begin to appear on the Earth's surface. Magma rises and squeezes through the widening cracks, sometimes to erupt and form volcanoes. The rising magma, whether or not it erupts, puts more pressure on the crust to produce additional fractures and, ultimately, the rift zone. Earthquake Occurrences: The distribution of earthquakes defines a narrow band of seismic activity close to the crest of an oceanic ridge. These earthquakes occur at shallow depths of a few km (2-8 km) and are mostly small; magnitudes of 6 or greater are rare. The point is that the lithosphere is very thin and weak at these boundaries, so strain cannot build up enough to cause large earthquakes. Associated with this type of seismicity is the volcanic activity along the axis of ridges. The seismic energy released at ridges is an insignificant part of the world-wide annual release. Analyses show that the earthquakes are associated with normal faulting, implying extension away from the ridge axis. 2. Convergent boundaries: The Earth's unchanging size implies that the crust must be destroyed at about the same rate as it is being created at the divergence boundary, as Harry Hess surmised. Such destruction (recycling) of crust takes place along convergent boundaries where plates are moving toward each other, and sometimes one plate sinks (is subducted) under another. The location where sinking of a plate occurs is called a Fig. 3 Schematic of oceanic-continental convergence. subduction zone. The type of convergence -- called by some a very slow "collision" -- that takes place between plates depends on the kind of lithosphere involved. Convergence can occur between an oceanic and a largely continental plate, or between two largely oceanic plates, or between two largely continental plates. a. Oceanic-continental convergence The deepest parts of the ocean are found in arc-shaped depressions in the ocean floor known as trenches. If by magic we could pull a plug and drain the Pacific Ocean, we would see a most amazing sight -- a number of long narrow, curving trenches thousands of kilometers long and 8 to 10 km deep cutting into the ocean floor. Trenches are the deepest parts of the ocean floor and are created by subduction. The arc shape results from the geometry of plate movement across the spherical earth, and the convex side of the arc points toward the open ocean. These trenches, because of the tectonic and volcanic behavior associated with them, are often accompanied by arc-shaped bands of islands. Off the coast of South America along the Peru-Chile trench, the oceanic Nazca Plate is pushing into and being subducted under the continental part of the South American Plate.

In turn, the overriding South American Plate is being lifted up, creating the towering Andes mountains, the backbone of the continent. Strong, destructive earthquakes and the rapid uplift of mountain ranges are common in this region. Even though the Nazca Plate as a whole is sinking smoothly and continuously into the trench, the deepest part of the subducting plate breaks into smaller pieces that become locked in place for long periods of time before suddenly moving to generate large earthquakes. Such earthquakes are often accompanied by uplift of the land by as much as a few meters. Oceanic-continental convergence also sustains many of the Earth's active volcanoes, such as those in the Andes and the Cascade Range in the Pacific Northwest. The eruptive activity is clearly associated with subduction, but scientists vigorously debate the possible sources of magma: Is magma generated by the partial melting of the subducted oceanic slab, or the overlying continental lithosphere, or both? Oceanic-Continent Boundaries (Volcanic Mountains) --Oceanic plate subducts due to higher density Range of earthquake depth and magnitude --Formation of continental margin volcanic chains --Formation of subduction complex (cascade mountains)
b.

Oceanic-oceanic convergence:

As with oceanic-continental convergence, when two oceanic plates converge, one is usually subducted under the other, and in the process a trench is formed. The Marianas Trench (paralleling the Mariana Islands), for example, marks where the fast-moving Pacific Plate converges against the slower moving Philippine Plate. The Challenger Deep, at the southern end of the Marianas Trench, plunges deeper into the Earth's interior Fig. 4 Schematic of oceanic-oceanic convergence. (nearly 11,000 m) than Mount Everest, the world's tallest mountain, rises above sea level (about 8,854 m). Subduction processes in oceanic-oceanic plate convergence also result in the formation of volcanoes. Over millions of years, the erupted lava and volcanic debris pile up on the ocean floor until a submarine volcano rises above sea level to form an island volcano. Such volcanoes are typically strung out in chains called island arcs. As the name implies, volcanic island arcs, which closely parallel the trenches, are generally curved. The trenches are the key to understanding how island arcs such as the Marianas and the Aleutian Islands have formed and why they experience numerous strong earthquakes. Magmas that form island arcs are produced by the partial melting of the descending plate and/or the overlying oceanic lithosphere. The descending plate also provides a source of stress as the two plates interact, leading to frequent moderate to strong earthquakes.

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c. Continental-continental convergence The Himalayan mountain range dramatically demonstrates one of the most visible and spectacular consequences of plate tectonics. When two continents meet headon, neither is subducted because the continental rocks are relatively light and, like two colliding icebergs, resist downward motion. Instead, the crust tends to buckle and be pushed upward or sideways. The collision of India Fig. 6 Schematic of continental- continental convergence. into Asia 50 million years ago caused the Eurasian Plate to crumple up and override the Indian Plate. After the collision, the slow continuous convergence of the two plates over millions of years pushed up the Himalayas and the Tibetan Plateau to their present heights. Most of this growth occurred during the past 10 million years. The Himalayas, towering as high as 8,854 m above sea level, form the highest continental mountains in the world. Moreover, the neighboring Tibetan Plateau, at an average elevation of about 4,600 m, is higher than all the peaks in the Alps except for Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa, and is well above the summits of most mountains in the United States. The seismicity at a subduction zone provides the key to the processes active there. Where one plate is thrust over the other, the shear causes hazardous earthquakes at shallow depths. Below this region, earthquakes are systematically distributed within the subducting plate. Fig. 7 Schematic of collision of Indian plate with Eurasin plate and They form an enclined upliftment of Himalaya. Wadati-Benioff zone, which may extend several hundred kilometers in to the mantle.

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10 Largest Earthquake in the World Location

1. Chile 2. Sumatra, Indonesia 3. Prince William Sound, Alaska 4. Andreanof Islands, Aleutian Islands

Date UTC
1960 05 22 2004 12 26 1964 03 28 1957 03 09 1952 11 04 1906 01 31 1965 02 04 1950 08 15 1923 02 03 1938 02 01

Magn.
9.5 Mw 9.3 Mw 9.2 Mw 9.1 Mw 9.0 Mw 8.8 Mw 8.7 Mw 8.6 Mw 8.5 Mw 8.5 Mw

Coordinates
38.2 S 3.251 N 61.1 N 51.3 N 52.75 N 1.0 N 51.3 N 28.5 N 54.0 N 5.25 S 72.6 W 95.799 E 147.5 W 175.8 W 159.5 E 81.5 W 178.6 E 96.5 E 161.0 E 130.5 E

5. Kamchatka 6. Off the Coast of Ecuador 7. Rat Islands, Aleutian Islands 8. India-China Border 9. Kamchatka 10 Banda Sea, Indonesia .

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3. Transform boundaries The zone between two plates sliding horizontally past one another is called a transform-fault boundary, or simply a transform boundary. The concept of transform faults originated with Canadian geophysicist J. Tuzo Wilson, who proposed that these large faults or fracture zones connect two spreading centers (divergent plate boundaries) or, less commonly, trenches (convergent plate boundaries). Most transform faults are found on the ocean floor. They commonly offset the active spreading ridges, producing zig-zag plate margins, and are generally defined by shallow earthquakes.
Fig. 8 Schematic of transform boundary. The Blanco, Mendocino, Murray, and Molokai fracture zones are some of the many fracture zones (transform faults) that scar the ocean floor and offset ridges. The San Andreas is one of the few transform faults exposed on land.

However, a few occur on land, for example the San Andreas fault zone in California. This transform fault connects the East Pacific Rise, a divergent boundary to the south, with the South Gorda -- Juan de Fuca -- Explorer Ridge, another divergent boundary to the north. The San Andreas fault zone, which is about 1,300 km long and in places tens of kilometers wide, slices through two thirds of the length of California. Along it, the Pacific Plate has been grinding horizontally past the North American Plate for 10 million years, at an average rate of about 5 cm/yr. Land on the west side of the fault zone (on the Pacific Plate) is moving in a northwesterly direction relative to the land on the east side of the fault zone (on the North American Plate). Other, transform boundaries are San Andreas Fault, Anatolian Fault near Turky, St. Paul Fault and Alpine fault in New Zealands. Earthquake Occurrances: Along the transform boundaries, the earthquakes occur at shallow depth, unaccompanied by volcanic activity. The friction between the plates can be so great that very large strain can built up before they are periodically relieved by large earthquakes. Neverthless, activity does not always occur along the entire length of the fault during any one earthquake. For instance, the 1906 San Francisco event was caaused by breakage only along the northern end of the San Andreas Fault. 1994-North ridge earthquake, 1989Lomaprita earthquake.

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WADATI-BENIOFF ZONE: The seismicity at a subduction zone provides the key to the processes active there. Where one plate is thrusted over the other, the shear causes hazardous earthquakes at shallow depths. Below this region, earthquakes are systematically distributed within the subducting plate. They form an inclined Wadati-Benioff seismic zone, which may extend for several hundred kilometes into the mantle. The distributions of epicentral locations and focal depths of intermediate and deep earthquakes give important evidence for the processes at a subduction zone. When the earthquake foci along a subduction zone are projected onto a cross-section normal to the strike of the plate margin, they are seen to define a zone of seismicity about 30-40 km thick in the upper part of the 80-100 km thick subducting oceanic plate. The dip-angle of the zone varies between about 30' and 60', becoming steeper with increasing depth. It can extent to depth of several hundred kilometers into the earth. The deepest reliable located focal depth extent down to about 670km. Important changes in the crystalline structure of mantle minerals occur below this depth. For many years the inclined seismic zone was referred to in Western literature as a Benioff zone in recognition of the Californian scientist, Hugo Benioff (Fig. 9). In the years following World War II Benioff carried out important pioneering studies that described the distribution of deep earthquakes on steeply dipping surfaces of seismicity. Many characteristics of the occurrence of deep earthquakes had been described in the late 1920s by a Japanese seismologist, Kiyoo Wadati.

Fig. 9 Schematic cross section through a subduction zone. The most active region is the zone of contact between the converging plates at depth of 10-60 km. There may be a back-arc seismic zone in the overriding plate. Below about 70 km depth a Wadati-Benioff seismic zone is described within the subduction plate. (After, Isacks, 1989.)

He discovered that the closer the epicenters of earthquakes lay to the Asian continent, the greater were their focal depths; the deep seismicity appeared to lie on an inclined plane. It was Benioff, however, who in 1954 proposed as an explanation of the phenomenon that the ocean floor was being 'subducted' underneath the adjacent land. This was a bold proposal well in advance of the advent of plate tectonic theory. Today the zone of active seismicity is called a Wadati-Benioff zone in recognition of both discoverers. Studies of the focal mechanisms show that at shallow depths the downgoing plate is in a state of down-dip extension (Fig. 10a). Subducting lithosphere is colder and denser than the underlying asthenosphere. This gives it negative buoyancy, which causes it to sink, pulling the plate downward. At greater depths the mantle is more rigid than the asthenosphere, and its strength resists penetration (Fig. 10b). While the upper part is sinking, the bottom part is being partly supported by the deeper layers; this results in
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down-dip compression in the lower part of the descending slab and down-dip extension in the upper part. A gap in the depth distribution of seismicity may arise where the deviatoric stress changes from extensional to compressional. In a very deep Fig. 10 Stresses acting on a subducting lithospheric plate. Arrows indicate shear where the underriding plate is bent downward. subduction zone the Solid and open circles within the descending slab denote increase of extension and compression, respectively; the size of the circle resistance with represents qualitatively the seismic activity. depth causes down- In (a), (b) and (d) extensional stress in the upper part of the plate dip compression is due to the slab being pulled into low-strength asthenosphere. In more rigid layer under the asthenosphere throughout the (b) resistance of the within the lower part of the slab; if the plate causes compression descending slab sinks far enough, (c), the stress becomes compressional (Fig. 10c). In some throughout; in some cases, (d), the deep part of the lower slab may break off (after Isacks and Molnar, 1969). cases part of the slab may break off and sink to great depths, where the earthquakes have compressional-type mechanisms (Fig. 10d); a gap in seismicity exists between the parts of the slab. The movement of Indian plate: Among the most dramatic and visible creations of plate-tectonic forces are the lofty Himalayas, which stretch 2,900 km along the border between India and Tibet. This immense mountain range began to form between 40 and 50 million years ago, when two large landmasses, India and Eurasia, driven by plate movement, collided. Because both these continental landmasses have about the same rock density, one plate could not be subducted under the other. The pressure of the impinging plates could only be relieved by thrusting skyward, contorting the collision zone, and forming the jagged Himalayan peaks. About 225 million years ago, India was a large island still situated off the Australian coast, and a vast ocean (called Tethys Sea) separated India from the Asian continent. When Pangaea broke apart about 200 million years ago, India began to forge northward. By studying the history--and ultimately the closing--of the Tethys, scientists have reconstructed India's northward journey. About 80 million years ago, India was located roughly 6,400 km south of the Asian continent, moving northward at a rate of about 9 m a century. When India rammed into Asia about 40 to 50 million years ago, its northward advance slowed by about half. The collision and associated decrease in the rate of plate movement are interpreted to mark the beginning of the rapid uplift of the Himalayas.

15

In just 50 million years, peaks such as Mt. Everest have risen to heights of more than 9 km. The impinging of the two landmasses has yet to end. The Himalayas continue to rise more than 1 cm a year -- a growth rate of 10 km in a million years! If that is so, why aren't the Himalayas even higher? Scientists believe that the Eurasian Plate may now be stretching out rather than thrusting up, and such stretching would result in some subsidence due to gravity. After the collison both the Indian and Euracian plates are moving towards north. This was verified on the basis of various evidences, one of them is the plant & animal fossils found fifty kilometers north of Lhasa (the capital of Tibet). Scientists found layers of pink sandstone containing grains of magnetic minerals (magnetite) that have recorded the pattern of the Earth's flip-flopping magnetic field. These sandstones also contain plant and animal fossils that were deposited when the Tethys Sea periodically flooded the region. The study of these fossils has revealed not only their geologic age but also the type of environment and climate in which they formed. For example, such studies indicate that the fossils lived under a relatively mild, wet environment about 105 million years ago, when Tibet was closer to the equator. Today, Tibet's climate is much more arid, reflecting the region's uplift and northward shift of nearly 2,000 km. Fossils found in the sandstone layers offer dramatic evidence of the climate change in the Tibetan region due to plate movement over the past 100 million years. At present, the movement of India continues to put enormous pressure on the Asian continent, and Tibet in turn presses on the landmass to the north that is hemming it in. The net effect of plate-tectonics forces acting on this geologically complicated region is to squeeze parts of Asia eastward toward the Pacific Ocean. One serious consequence of these processes is a deadly "domino" effect: tremendous stresses build up within the Earth's crust, which are relieved periodically by earthquakes along the numerous faults that scar the landscape. Some of the world's most destructive earthquakes in history are related to continuing tectonic processes that began some 50 million years ago when the Indian and Eurasian continents first met.

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SEISMICITY OF THE EARTH The epicenters of about 30,000 earthquakes are now reported annually by the International Seismological Center (ISC). A global map of seismicity, as shown in Figure 4, reveals most of the actively deforming regions of the earth. The seismicity map is important evidence in support of the plate tectonic theory, and delineates the presently active plate margins. The major plate boundaries and the diffuse bands of seismicity associated with the distributed deformation zones such as the Alpine-Himalayan belt and the Great Basin in the western United States can be traced out easily. The existence of seismicity thus can be used to deduce the tectonic activity of a region, particularly in submarine regions and other areas that are otherwise inaccessible. Earthquake epicenters are not uniformly distributed over the earth surface, but occur predominantly along narrow zones of interplate seismic activity. The circum-pacific zone, in which 75-80% of the annual release of seismic energy takes place, forms a girdle that encompasses the mountain range on the west of the Americans and the island arcs along the east coast of Asia and Australia. The Mediterranean-trans-asiatic zone, responsible for about 15-20% of the annual energy release, begins at the Azores triple juction in the Atlantic Ocean and extends along the Azores-Gibraltar ridge, after passing through North Africa it makes a loop through the Italian peninsula, the Alps and the Dinarides; it then runs through turkey, Iran, The Himalayan mountain chain and the island arcs of the Southeast Asia, where it terminates at the circum-pacific zone. The system of oceanic ridges and rises form the third most active zone of seismicity, with about 3-7% of the annually released seismic energy. In addition to their seismicity, each of these zones is also characterized by active volcanism. The remainder of the Earth is considered to be aseismic. However, no region of the Earth can be regarded as completely earthquake-free. About 1% of the global seismicity is due to intraplate earthquakes, which occur remote from the major seismic zones. These are not necessarily insignificant: some very large and damaging earthquakes (e.g. the Koyna, 1967; Latur, 1993 and Jabalpur, 1997 earthquakes of India) have been of the intraplate variety. Earthquakes can also be classified according to their focal depths. Earthquakes with shallow focal depths less than 70 km occur in all the seismically active zones; only shallow earthquakes occur on the oceanic ridge systems. The largest proportion (about 85%) of the annual release of seismic energy is liberated in shallow-focus earthquakes. The remainder is set free by earthquakes with intermediate focal depths of 70-300 km (about 12%) and by earthquakes with deep focal depths greater than 300 km (about 3%). These occur only in the circum-Pacific and Mediterranean-transasiatic seismic zones, and accompany the process of plate subduction. Further, about 85% of the moment release occurs at subduction zones. Volcanic earthquakes also produce insignificant amounts of moment release. In the examination of the seismotectonics of any region, one needs to keep an awareness of the relative moment released in different earthquakes and of that with respect to the moment release expected from the total deformation of the region. The common use of magnitude often obscures these differences because it is a logarithmic measure of moment and because, unless moment magnitude is used, it saturates for the earthquakes that contribute the most to the moment release.

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SEISMOTECTONICS OF INDIA

Fig. 1 Tectonic map showing the major geomorphologic features in India and adjoining regions. AR-Arravalli Ridge; ASR-Andaman Spreading Ridge; CB-Cuddapah Basin; CG-Cambay Graben; CHB-Chhatishgarh Basin; DG-Damodar Graben; DHR-Delhi Hardwar Ridge; FRFaizabad Ridge; GBF-Great Boundary Fault; GG-Godavari graben; HK-Hindukush; KOF-Koyna Fault; KR-Kutch Ridge; MG-Mahanadi Graben; MRDF-Moradabad Fault; MSR-Monghyr Saharsa Ridge; NT-Naga Thrust; SGF-Sagaing Fault; SHF-Sumatra Fault; TST-Tien Shan Thrust; WCF-West Coast Fault (after Khan, 2004).

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Fig. 2 Seismicity map of India (after, IS:1893 (Pt. 1): 2002) Seismotectonics of India can be divided in to four zones. Himalayan Zone: MFT, MBT, MCT & ISZ; Andaman Nicobar thrust best; Kutch region and Intra-continental tectonic activity. Himalayas is one of the tectonically most active belts of the World and one of the rare sites of active continent-continent collision. A major portion of the strain due to collision is taken up in the thrusting phenomenon along the Himalaya while the remaining strain is distributed north of it in a wide area from Tibetan Plateau to Pamirs. The Himalayan zone evolved in two phases. The first phase involved continent-continent collision of India and Asia and in the second phase the stretched Indian continental lithosphere subducted along the detachment (decollment) surface forming intra-continental thrusts. This subduction to some extent is still continuing. The push from the Asian side has given rise to compression from north producing gigantic thrusts progressing from north to south.

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The northward movement of the Indian plate and the continued convergence process along the Himalaya has transmitted large northerly compression in the Indian Peninsula, causing NE oriented faults. The other tectonic features like ENE trending Narmada Son graben and NW trending Godavari and Mahanadi grabens are older. Sometimes the NW faults have been displaced by the younger NE faults. Present day tectonics as indicated by seismicity study shows strike-slip faulting either along NE or NW trending faults by reactivation. Normal faults along Narmada, Godavari and Koyna rifts are also reactivated occasionally. However, the faults in Peninsular India are small and so only moderate earthquakes have occurred except in Kutch region. The source of stress responsible for tectonic activity in the Kutch region is not well defined. SEISMICITY OF INDIA Earthquakes have been occurring in the Indian subcontinent from the times immemorial but reliable historical records are available for the last 200 years ( Oldham, 1883 ). From the beginning of this century; more than 700 earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more have been recorded and felt in India until 2002 as given in the catalogues prepared by US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/USGS, India Meteorological Department (IMD), National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI). Out of this, Peninsular India has experienced only about 100 earthquakes of magnitude 5 or more. The seismicity of India can be divided in four groups, namely, Himalaya region, Andaman Nicobar, Kutch region and Peninsular India. Some of the damaging earthquake which have occurred in these four regions are listed in the following table. SN 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 1. 1. 2. 3. 4. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Name Kashmir Earthquake Shillaong Earthquake Kangra Earthquake Bihar-Nepal Earthquake Assam Earthquake Bihar-Nepal Earthquake Indo-Burma Earthquake Uttarkashi Earthquake Chamoli Earthquake HIMALAYAN REGION Location Year Srinagar, j. k. 1885 Shillaong, Platau 1897 Kangra, H.P. 1905 Bihar-Nepal boarder 1934 region Assam 1950 Bihar-Nepal boarder 1988 region India-Burma Boarder 1988 Uttarkashi, U.A. 1991 Chamoli, U.A. 1999 1941 1668 1819 1956 2001 1856 1927 1938 1957 1967 1967 1970 1993 1997 Magn. --8.7 8.5 8.3 8.5 6.5 7.3 7.0 6.8 8.1 X 8.0 6.1 6.9 VII 6.5 6.3 5.5 6.0 5.4 5.4 6.2 6.0 Death 3,000 1,600 20,000 10,000 1,526 1,000 768 54

ANDAMAN NICOBAR Andaman-Nicobar Earthquake Andaman-Nicobar Trench Samaji Earthquake Kutch Earthquake Anjar Earthquake Bhuj Earthquake Bombay-Surat Earthquake Son Valley Earthquake Satpura Earthquake Balaghat Earthquake Koyna Earthquake Ongole Earthquake Broach Earthquake Latur Earthquake Jabalpur Earthquake KUTCH REGION Samaji, Delta of Indus Kutch , Gujarat Anjar, Gujrat Bachau, Gujarat PENINSULAR INDIA Bombay-Surat Son Valley Satpura Balaghat, M.P. Koyna Ongole, Bhadrachalam Broach Latur, Maharashtra Jabalpur, M.P.

2,000 115 20,000

177 26 10,000 39

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