The 10 August 2009 Andaman earthquake of Mw 7.5 occurred to the north of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands at 14o N and 93o E which interestingly, coincides with the northern periphery of the rupture of the Sumatra-Andaman giant mega-thrust earthquake of Mw 9.1 that occurred on 26 December 2004. The event was followed by aftershocks with a peculiar vertical distribution at the same location which was earlier devoid of any significant seismicity. Waveform modeling of five of these events recorded by ISLANDS - the broadband seismic network deployed along the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, indicates that the main shock and two of its aftershocks have a normal fault mechanism with shallow focal depths within 18 km while two others have a strike-slip mechanism occurring deeper, down to 26 km. The computed Bouger gravity anomalies in this region indicate the steepest gradient of 1.5 mgal/km exactly centered over this zone of vertical seismic distribution that characterizes a region of lithospheric split or tear which is devoid of a subducting slab. This is in contrast to a clear subduction trend visible in the southern Andaman and Sunda arcs further south, as evidenced by tomographic images. Joint inversion of waveforms of these five events simultaneously, provides the best fitting P wave velocity structure of this region, given by a Moho at a depth of 30 km and a high crustal Vp/Vs ratio of 1.81. We infer an oceanic double crustal column corresponding to a thickness of about 21 km of Burmese crust including a 5 km thick sedimentary column, underlain by a thinner Indian crust which apparently has a thickness of about 9 km, a model that is also confirmed independently by gravity modeling. We interpret the mechanism of shallow normal fault earthquakes as an intra-plate relaxation phenomenon following the buckling of the overriding Burmese plate in the accretionary wedge of the fore-arc basin, in response to the 2004 mega-thrust subduction event. The deeper strike slip events correspond to an intra-plate phenomenon within the subducting Indian lithospheric plate representing left-lateral faulting across the Andaman arc, due to uneven convergence along the subduction front. Such strike-slip movements are seen all over the Indian Ocean diffuse deformation zone and represent strain accommodation in the Indian crust in response to a grosser mechanism of wrench fault tectonics of the Indo-Australian subduction beneath the Burma-Sunda plate.
The Mauranipur region is situated along the central part of the Bundelkhand Craton (BuC) in the northern Indian shield, which consists of garnet- biotite gneisses with various deformational structures in the form of folding, faulting, augen and tail structures. These deformation structures are tectonic imprints that reveal the tectonic nature of the garnet-biotite gneisses. The groundmass of Grt-Bt gneisses is characterized by presence of garnet, biotite, plagioclase, K-feldspar, quartz, and ilmenite. The phase equilibrium modelling and geochemical attributes depict the tectonic activity and metamorphic evolution of the studied rocks. The P-T pseudosection has been calculated in the NCKFMASHT system, which revealed that the peak mineral assemblage stabilized in the P-T range of 6.35–6.75 kbar and 755–780ºC, and it further goes to retrograde metamorphism under P-T condition ranging from 4.80–5.28 kbar and 718–735ºC. These gneisses represent a calc-alkaline to high-K calc-alkaline series of protolithic origin. The negative anomaly of Nb and Ti for all samples indicates that a subduction tectonic setting has occurred in the BuC. The (La/Lu)N ratio and differences in the trace elements indicate heterogeneous sources and large variation in the degree of partial melting. The Y vs Nb and (Y+Nb) vs Rb tectonic discrimination diagrams indicate that the Grt-Bt gneisses have an affinity towards the volcanic arc granite and developed during subduction setting. The geochemical interpretation provides significant evidence that protoliths of Grt-Bt gneisses were further metamorphosed by the continent-continent collision. Keywords: Garnet-biotite gneiss, Pseudosection, P-T condition, Geochemistry, Bundelkhand
There is a contradiction between two widely accepted pillars of global tectonics, (1) the central plate tectonic assumption of plate rigidity and (2) the explanation of the relief of the seafloor as being due to lithospheric subsidence from thermal contraction. Here we quantify the rate of predictable horizontal thermal contraction of the lithosphere using depth averages of widely accepted thermal models. Depth‐averaged cooling rate, and thus depth‐averaged contraction rate, is proportional to t −1 , where t is the age of the lithosphere. Depth‐averaged thermal contraction rate of old (i.e., 167 Ma old) lithosphere is 10 −5 Ma −1 (3 × 10 −19 s −1 ), which is an order of magnitude greater than the average strain rate inferred from seismic moment release. Newly created (i.e., 0.1 Ma old) lithosphere is displaced by thermal contraction toward lithosphere in old ocean basins at a rate that is 1.35% of the half rate of seafloor spreading, giving displacement rates of 0.1 to 1.1 km Ma −1 (or, equivalently, 0.1 to 1.1 mm a −1 ). Predicted displacement rates parallel to midocean ridges depend strongly on lithospheric age and are proportional to the distance along which contractional strain rates are integrated. Displacement rates can be significant (≥1 km Ma −1 ) for young lithosphere. In particular the displacement of oceanic lithosphere adjacent to southern Baja California relative to lithosphere near the Pacific‐Antarctic Rise has an indicated north‐south displacement rate between ≈3 and ≈10 km Ma −1 . This suggests that global plate motion circuits based on the assumption of plate rigidity may be biased by a substantial velocity.
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