Seismic Strain Energy Release Pattern in Northeast India and its Adjoining Region

Northeast India and its adjoining region constitutes an important geotectonic element of Southeast Asia and is connected to India via a narrow corridor squeezed between Nepal and Bangladesh. Geomorphologically, the entire NE India is located in an earthquake prone zone ( Zone – V ) of the Indian subcontinent. The strain energy release has been studied by dividing the region into in the six geo – tectonic block. It has been found that the Arakan – Yoma to be seismically active followed by Naga Hills region. It also showed that the probability of occurring an earthquake is more in the Shillong Plateau than the other five tectonic blocks. For the region as a whole there is the probability that an earthquake of intensity around 6.64 mb may occur as determined from strain energy bearing capacity of the region. Moreover, it has also been found that if strain energy released by a tectonic block is large it might effect the stress building process in the rocks of adjacent tectonic blocks. The iso-strain release map depicted areas of high and low seismic activity.