ABSTRACT
The 2001 Bhuj–Gujarat Earthquake (Mw 7.7) was one of the largest events in the stable continental regions of the world and significant for comparative study of two big earthquakes in the same tectonic province. Kachchh has a long seismic history and has experienced two major events and tens of smaller events in the past 200 years. Surface deformation features of this earthquake are significant for the palaeoseismic studies in comparable tectonic environments elsewhere in the world. These features are found in rocky uplifts, the hinterland Quaternaries, and the salt playas known as the Ranns, the large Quaternary basins. They occupy half grabens, formed during ongoing rift reversal during the Quaternary. The on-fault, off-fault, co-seismic, post-seismic deformation features related to intraplate compressional tectonic environments, like sand blows, lateral spreads, pressure ridges, mole tracks, dextral thrusts, monoclinal humps, extensional cracks, secondary faults, ground collapse, rock falls, displacement in the Quaternary apron, soft sediment deformation, shattered bedrock ridges and sand dykes, were observed during documentation of the 2001 Gujarat Earthquake. Palaeoseimic studies based on secondary deformation structures of the 2001 Gujarat Earthquake in the eastern Kachchh suggest similar to this earthquake struck ~4000 years BP.
