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Leading geologist warns some regions are quake-prone

Lucknow: Pointing to the geology of the Indian subcontinent, a leading geologist on Saturday warned that some regions of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh near Nepal could be prone to an earthquake.

Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology Director B. R. Arora who delivered the 54th Sir Albert Charles Seward Memorial Lecture as part of the Foundation Day celebrations of the Birbal Sahni Institute of Palaeobotany here, said the Indian and the Eurasian plates were on a collision course.

“The youngest mountains of the world, Himalayas, formed as a result of collision between Indian and Eurasian plate. The Indian plate is pushing at about 5 centimetres every year but the Eurasian plate is shifting only about 3 centimetres which leaves a strain of about 2 centimetres,” he said.

This strain is a matter of concern as such strains are released in earthquakes and there are areas in Himachal, Eastern UP (near Nepal) and Uttarakhand where a strain has been building but has no history of earthquakes in the past hundred years, Dr. Arora said.

A centre has been established at Kuttu in New Tehri to research into the phenomenon and hopefully predict earthquakes, he said. – PTI

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Leading geologist warns some regions are quake-prone

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