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Locked and loading megathrust linked to active subduction beneath the Indo-Burman Ranges

Nature Geoscience volume 9, pages 615–618 (2016)Cite this article

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Abstract

The Indo-Burman mountain ranges mark the boundary between the Indian and Eurasian plates, north of the Sumatra–Andaman subduction zone. Whether subduction still occurs along this subaerial section of the plate boundary, with 46 mm yr−1 of highly oblique motion, is contentious1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8. About 21 mm yr−1 of shear motion is taken up along the Sagaing Fault, on the eastern margin of the deformation zone8,9. It has been suggested that the remainder of the relative motion is taken up largely or entirely by horizontal strike-slip faulting and that subduction has stopped3,5,7,10. Here we present GPS measurements of plate motions in Bangladesh, combined with measurements from Myanmar9 and northeast India10, taking advantage of a more than 300 km subaerial accretionary prism spanning the Indo-Burman Ranges to the Ganges–Brahmaputra Delta11. They reveal 13–17 mm yr−1 of plate convergence on an active, shallowly dipping and locked megathrust fault. Most of the strike-slip motion occurs on a few steep faults, consistent with patterns of strain partitioning in subduction zones. Our results strongly suggest that subduction in this region is active, despite the highly oblique plate motion and thick sediments. We suggest that the presence of a locked megathrust plate boundary represents an underappreciated hazard in one of the most densely populated regions of the world.

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Figure 1: Topographic map of the Ganges–Brahmaputra Delta and Indo-Burman Foldbelt showing GPS velocities.
Figure 2: Analysis of GPS velocities across Indo-Burman Ranges.

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Acknowledgements

We thank R. Bürgmann for comments that helped to improve the paper. We thank J. Armbruster, who installed the initial 6 stations in 2003, and N. Feldl, who helped install 12 stations in 2007. We also thank the Dhaka University students who helped maintain the GPS network and the people at the many sites that host the GPS stations. Without their efforts and UNAVCO support, this project would not have been possible. We thank M. Kogan for help with processing. We thank C. Rangin, F. Masson and T. Maurin for sharing their Myanmar GPS data with us. This material is based on equipment and engineering services provided by the UNAVCO Facility with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under NSF Cooperative Agreement EAR-0735156. This project was supported by NSF INT 99-00487, NSF EAR-06 36037 and NSF IIA 09-68354. L.F. and E.M.H. were supported by Singapore National Research Foundation Fellowship number NRF-NRFF2010-064. Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory publication number 8204.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory of Columbia University, Palisades, New York 10964, USA

    Michael S. Steckler, Leonardo Seeber, Jonathan Gale & Michael Howe

  2. School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Queens College, City University of New York, Flushing, New York 11367, USA

    Dhiman Ranjan Mondal

  3. Earth and Environmental Sciences, Graduate Center, City University of New York, New York, New York 10016, USA

    Dhiman Ranjan Mondal

  4. Department of Geology, Dhaka University, Dhaka 1000, Bangladesh

    Syed Humayun Akhter

  5. Earth Observatory of Singapore, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore

    Lujia Feng & Emma M. Hill

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Contributions

M.S.S. planned the paper. D.R.M. did the model analysis with assistance from L.F. and E.M.H., while S.H.A. processed the GPS data. J.G. and M.H. contributed to the data projections. M.S.S., S.H.A., D.R.M. and L.S. installed and maintained the GPS network. All authors discussed the results and contributed to writing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Michael S. Steckler.

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Steckler, M., Mondal, D., Akhter, S. et al. Locked and loading megathrust linked to active subduction beneath the Indo-Burman Ranges. Nature Geosci 9, 615–618 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo2760

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