Neotectonics of the Western Suleiman Fold Belt, Pakistan: Evidence for Bookshelf Faulting

Abstract

The Suleiman Fold-Thrust Belt represents an active deformational front at the western margin of the Indian plate and has been a locus of major earthquakes. This study focuses on the western part of the Suleiman Fold-Thrust Belt that comprises two parallel NW–SE oriented faults: Harnai Fault and Karahi Fault. These faults have known thrust components; however, there remains uncertainty about the lateral component of motion. This work presents the new observation of surface deformation using the Small Baseline Subset (SBAS), Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technique on Sentinel-1A datasets to decompose displacement into the vertical and horizontal components employing ascending and descending track geometries. The subsurface structural geometry of this area was assessed using 2D seismic and well data. In addition, geomorphic indices were calculated to assess the relative tectonic activity of the area. InSAR results show that the Karahi Fault has a ~15 mm right-lateral movement for descending and ~10 mm/for ascending path geometries. The Harnai Fault does not show any lateral movement. Seismic data are in agreement with the InSAR results suggesting that the Harnai Fault is a blind thrust. This work indicates that the block between these two faults displays a clockwise rotation that creates the “bookshelf model”.

Digital elevation model‐based lineament analysis of the Zindapir anticline, Sulaiman fold‐and‐thrust belt, Pakistan

“…The DEM technique is used for structural analysis (Chenrai, 2012;Karaca et al, 2021;Wajid et al, 2021), and hydrologic modelling (Edet et al, 1998;Ludwig & Schneider, 2006) 2). The structure is located along the mountain front and is considered active based on the linear seismicity with shallow thrust faults and the prevalence of focal mechanism along the anticline (Reynolds et al, 2015).…”

“…The DEM technique is used for structural analysis (Chenrai, 2012; Karaca et al, 2021; Wajid et al, 2021), and hydrologic modelling (Edet et al, 1998; Ludwig & Schneider, 2006) in the SFTB and elsewhere. In this study, we evaluated the application of lineament analysis for the structural investigation of the Zindapir anticline.…”

“…In this study, we used DEM and shuttle radar topography mission (SRTM) data to identify and analyse the lineaments of the bedding and fractures of the Zindapir anticline. Several previous studies used DEM data for geological investigations, for example, for geohazard and geomorphological (Falorni et al, 2005; Gorokhovich & Voustianiouk, 2006; Karaca et al, 2021; Wajid et al, 2021), hydrological‐modelling (Ludwig & Schneider, 2006), and structural studies (Toudeshki, 2010).…”

Revealing the geomorphic parameters of neotectonics based on geological and seismic data at Wadi Beda basin, NW Gulf of Suez, Egypt

“…They can be found using multi-spectral satellite data combined with GIS, InSAR, and DEM techniques, as well as the extraction of geomorphic parameters. (e.g., Hancock and Williams 1986;Valkanou et al 2021;Karaca et al 2021).…”