Seismogenic sources in the bay of bengal vis-a-vis potential for tsunami generation and its impact in the northern Bay of Bengal coast

Geodynamic status, seismo-tectonic environment, and geophysical signatures of the Bay of Bengal do not support the occurrence of seismogenic tsunami. Since thrust fault and its intensity and magnitude of rupture are the key tectonic elements of tsunamigenic seismic sources, the study reveals that su...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Khan, A.A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer 2012
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.um.edu.my/9610/1/00012356_83286.pdf
_version_ 1796945949561454592
author Khan, A.A.
author_facet Khan, A.A.
author_sort Khan, A.A.
collection UM
description Geodynamic status, seismo-tectonic environment, and geophysical signatures of the Bay of Bengal do not support the occurrence of seismogenic tsunami. Since thrust fault and its intensity and magnitude of rupture are the key tectonic elements of tsunamigenic seismic sources, the study reveals that such characteristics of fault-rupture and seismic sources do not occur in most of the Bay of Bengal except a small segment in the Andaman–Nicobar subduction zone. The inferred segment of the Andaman–Nicobar subduction zone is considered for generating a model of the deformation field arising from fluid-driven source. The model suggests local tsunami with insignificant inundation potential along the coast of northern Bay of Bengal. The bathymetric profile and the sea floor configuration of the northern Bay of Bengal play an important role in flattening the waveform through defocusing process. The direction of motion of the Indian plate makes an angle of about 30� with the direction of the opening of Andaman Sea. The opening of Andaman Sea and the direction of plate motion of the Indian plate results in the formation of Andaman trench where the subducting plate dives more obliquely than that in the Sunda trench in the south. The oblique subduction reduces significantly the possibilities of dominant thrust faulting in the Andaman subduction zone. Further, north of Andaman subduction in the Bengal–Arakan coast, there is no active subduction. On the otherhand, much greater volume of sediments (in excess of 20 km) in the Bengal–Arakan segment reduces the possibilities of mega rupture of the ocean floor. The water depth (&1,000 m) along most of the northern Bay of Bengal plate margin is not optimum for any significant tsunami generation. Hence, very weak possibility of any significant tsunami is suggested that based on the interpretation of geodynamic status, seismo-tectonic environment, and geophysical signatures of the Andaman subduction zone and the Bengal–Arakan coast.
first_indexed 2024-03-06T05:24:17Z
format Article
id um.eprints-9610
institution Universiti Malaya
language English
last_indexed 2024-03-06T05:24:17Z
publishDate 2012
publisher Springer
record_format dspace
spelling um.eprints-96102014-04-17T02:22:27Z http://eprints.um.edu.my/9610/ Seismogenic sources in the bay of bengal vis-a-vis potential for tsunami generation and its impact in the northern Bay of Bengal coast Khan, A.A. Q Science (General) QE Geology Geodynamic status, seismo-tectonic environment, and geophysical signatures of the Bay of Bengal do not support the occurrence of seismogenic tsunami. Since thrust fault and its intensity and magnitude of rupture are the key tectonic elements of tsunamigenic seismic sources, the study reveals that such characteristics of fault-rupture and seismic sources do not occur in most of the Bay of Bengal except a small segment in the Andaman–Nicobar subduction zone. The inferred segment of the Andaman–Nicobar subduction zone is considered for generating a model of the deformation field arising from fluid-driven source. The model suggests local tsunami with insignificant inundation potential along the coast of northern Bay of Bengal. The bathymetric profile and the sea floor configuration of the northern Bay of Bengal play an important role in flattening the waveform through defocusing process. The direction of motion of the Indian plate makes an angle of about 30� with the direction of the opening of Andaman Sea. The opening of Andaman Sea and the direction of plate motion of the Indian plate results in the formation of Andaman trench where the subducting plate dives more obliquely than that in the Sunda trench in the south. The oblique subduction reduces significantly the possibilities of dominant thrust faulting in the Andaman subduction zone. Further, north of Andaman subduction in the Bengal–Arakan coast, there is no active subduction. On the otherhand, much greater volume of sediments (in excess of 20 km) in the Bengal–Arakan segment reduces the possibilities of mega rupture of the ocean floor. The water depth (&1,000 m) along most of the northern Bay of Bengal plate margin is not optimum for any significant tsunami generation. Hence, very weak possibility of any significant tsunami is suggested that based on the interpretation of geodynamic status, seismo-tectonic environment, and geophysical signatures of the Andaman subduction zone and the Bengal–Arakan coast. Springer 2012 Article PeerReviewed application/pdf en http://eprints.um.edu.my/9610/1/00012356_83286.pdf Khan, A.A. (2012) Seismogenic sources in the bay of bengal vis-a-vis potential for tsunami generation and its impact in the northern Bay of Bengal coast. Nat Hazard. pp. 1127-1141. DOI https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-011-9970-x <https://doi.org/10.1007/s11069-011-9970-x>. DOI 10.1007/s11069-011-9970-x
spellingShingle Q Science (General)
QE Geology
Khan, A.A.
Seismogenic sources in the bay of bengal vis-a-vis potential for tsunami generation and its impact in the northern Bay of Bengal coast
title Seismogenic sources in the bay of bengal vis-a-vis potential for tsunami generation and its impact in the northern Bay of Bengal coast
title_full Seismogenic sources in the bay of bengal vis-a-vis potential for tsunami generation and its impact in the northern Bay of Bengal coast
title_fullStr Seismogenic sources in the bay of bengal vis-a-vis potential for tsunami generation and its impact in the northern Bay of Bengal coast
title_full_unstemmed Seismogenic sources in the bay of bengal vis-a-vis potential for tsunami generation and its impact in the northern Bay of Bengal coast
title_short Seismogenic sources in the bay of bengal vis-a-vis potential for tsunami generation and its impact in the northern Bay of Bengal coast
title_sort seismogenic sources in the bay of bengal vis a vis potential for tsunami generation and its impact in the northern bay of bengal coast
topic Q Science (General)
QE Geology
url http://eprints.um.edu.my/9610/1/00012356_83286.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT khanaa seismogenicsourcesinthebayofbengalvisavispotentialfortsunamigenerationanditsimpactinthenorthernbayofbengalcoast