The 49,

Journal of Nepal Geological Society, 2015, Vol. 2015

The 2015 Gorkha Earthquake and response of the Kathmandu Valley sediments

*Sudhir Rajaure1, Megh Raj Dhital2, Lalu Prasad Paudel2

ABSTRACT

The Gorkha Earthquake occurred on the gently dipping part of the Main Himalayan Thrust (MHT), close to the Main
Central Thrust (MCT). This earthquake possibly occurred in the source zone of the 1833 Nepal Earthquake (Mw 7.6),
which occurred after 182 years. The region between the 1905 Kangra Earthquake and 1934 Bihar-Nepal Earthquake has
not produced any great earthquake since the last 500 years and still remains a potential site for great earthquake(s) in
future. The Kathmandu Valley witnessed moderate ground acceleration and comparatively large velocity as recorded at
Kantipath during the Mw 7.8, Gorkha Earthquake. The analysis of the records show that high frequencies were damped
and low frequencies were dominant over the sedimentary basin, which can be attributed to the response of the sediments
underneath. Because of damping of high frequencies, the engineered, low storey buildings were less damaged and resisted
the ground shaking comparatively well. However, on the other hand, the historical monument 'Dharahara' collapsed
completely and the high rise apartment buildings suffered more because of the dominance of low frequencies.

Keywords: Peak ground acceleration, predominant period, high frequency, low frequency and damping

Received: May 20, 2015 Revision accepted: June 25, 2015

INTRODUCTION not to have produced any great earthquake since the last five
The Himalayan Range is an active collisional orogen, hundred years. This stretch of the Himalaya has been termed as
which is about 2400 km long. It falls in the boundary between seismic gap (Khattri 1987, 1992, Bilham et al. 1995), which is
the Indian Tectonic Plate and the Eurasian Tectonic Plate. The suspected as the site of next great destructive earthquake in the
Indian Tectonic Plate is moving towards north at an average region in future. It should be noted that any earthquake source
velocity of about 4 cm a year relative to Eurasia (e.g. Bettinelli et region has a maximum magnitude potential, which depends
al. 2006). Approximately half of this convergence is absorbed on the size (area and length) of the source zone but there is
across the Himalaya in straining the crust and resulting in the probability of smaller (Mw <8.0) earthquakes (e. g. Kramer
accumulation of elastic stress in the region. The accumulated 2008) and therefore smaller earthquakes may also occur.
elastic stress is released in the form of earthquakes, when the Nepal occupies about one-third arc length of the
elastic stress exceeds the strength of surrounding rock. Large Himalaya. It falls in a seismically high hazard zone (e. g. Thapa
earthquakes occur less frequently but are capable to cause and Wang 2013), which has been reported to have experienced
unimaginable loss of lives and property. It is a cyclic process, many destructive earthquakes in its written history. Since 1255,
because after the release of accumulated energy by large the Kathmandu Valley has been reported to have experienced
earthquakes, accumulation of energy starts again for next large five major destructive earthquakes in 1225, 1408, 1681, 1833
earthquake right after. Small earthquakes occur frequently but and 1934. The magnitudes of these earthquakes are estimated
do not contribute much to release the stored elastic energy; to be more than 7.5 (Chitrakar and Pandey 1986, Bilham
therefore large earthquakes are inevitable to release the energy et al. 1995, Pandey et al. 1995, Hough and Bilham 2008).
in time and again. Among these, the 1934 Mw 8.1 Bihar-Nepal earthquake is the
In the last century, the Himalaya hosted four destructive most destructive one, which claimed more than 10,700 lives
earthquakes, which are the 1897 Shillong Earthquake (Mw in Nepal and adjoining part of India. This earthquake had a
8.1), 1905 Kangra Earthquake (Mw 7.8), 1934 Bihar-Nepal maximum intensity of MMI X in the Kathmandu Valley, which
Earthquake (Mw 8.1) and 1950 Assam Earthquake (Mw 8.5) destroyed about 19% and damaged about 38% of the buildings
(Ambraseys and Douglas 2004, Seeber and Armbruster 1981, in the valley (Pandey and Molnar 1988, Rana 1935). The 18
Khattri 1987, Molnar 1990, Molnar and Pandey 1989, Hough September 2011 earthquake has been felt in six countries, i.e.
and Bilham 2008, Yeats and Lillie 1991, Yeats et al. 1992). The Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, India, Pakistan and Nepal, causing
region between the 1934 Bihar-Nepal Earthquake (Mw 8.1) the death toll of more than 100 people in the region (Thapa and
and the 1905 Kangra Earthquake (Mw 7.8) has been reported Wang 2013). The last great earthquake of 1934 is still in the

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Rajaure et al.

living memory of elder people. This earthquake claimed about which is in consistence with the variation of PGA across the
4296 (e. g. Pandey and Molnar 1988) lives in Kathmandu valley implying the shallow depth geology is inhomogeneous.
Valley only. Documented records of destruction reveal that The earthquake was a smaller one and the variation of PGA
the Kathmandu Valley has experienced many destructive across the valley has been interpreted as the response of
earthquakes in the past (e.g. Chitrakar and Pandey 1984). shallow sedimentary layers, which possibly varies laterally
Similar reports of past destructive earthquakes from the across the valley.
western part of Nepal are not available. An Mw 8.5 earthquake Gorkha Earthquake
reportedly destroyed the western part of Nepal along with the
adjoining part of south Tibet and north India (Bilham et. al. The Kathmandu Valley and other northern districts
2004). Thus, the region in western Nepal, between Gorkha and between Gorkha (in the west) and Dolakha (in the east) were
Dehradoon of India was anticipated to host great earthquake(s). violently shaken by the 12 April 2015 Gorkha (Mw 7.8, USGS)
In contrary to the anticipation, the Gorkha Earthquake (Mw Earthquake. This is the largest earthquake after the 1934 Bihar-
7.8) occurred in the region, which is believed to have hosted Nepal Earthquake to hit Nepal. The earthquake occurred at
the 1833 Nepal Earthquake (~Mw 7.6, Bilham). Thus, this [Link] (UTC) in the morning and according to the National
earthquake can be considered as a repeat of the 1833 (Mw 7.6) Seismological Centre (NSC) of Department of Mines and
Nepal Earthquake. The rupture of the the earthquake did not Geology (DMG), the earthquake occurred at 28.24 N latitude
propagate towards west and the energy stored in that region, and 84.75 E longitude with focal depth at 15 km. The Seismic
which is known as a 'seismic gap', is not released, therefore network of the Department of Mines and Geology has recorded
the threat of great earthquake(s) in the west of Gorkha remains the earthquake and its aftershocks very well. The distribution
unchanged. of aftershocks (source: [Link]) and the fault
Previous Works plane solutions (source: [Link] ) depict that the Gorkha
Earthquake (Mw 7.8) and the 26 April aftershock (Mw 6.9)
The response of the Kathmandu Valley was first occurred on east-west trending, low angle thrust fault (Fig. 1).
studied by Pandey (2004). He used relative power spectra of
ambient noise recorded at 60 soil sites with reference to that This Gorkha earthquake and its aftershocks have
recorded at rock site in the Kathmandu Valley. He reported caused massive destruction in the region between Gorkha and
that the amplified predominant frequency is at 2 Hz and the Dolakha. The epicenter of this earthquake falls in the western
amplification factor ranges between 12 and 15. Similarly there part of Gorkha District, at a distance of about 80 km from the
are other peaks of amplification in the frequency range between Kathmandu Valley. This earthquake was followed by a number
0.6 and 5 Hz, but the amplification factor varies across the of aftershocks in which three aftershocks were strong ones.
valley. The amplification factor is about 5 to 6 in the lacustrine The first aftershock of Mw 6.5 occurred on 25 April, which is
area, between 2 to 3 in transitional area and between 1 and 2 close to the the main shock. The second aftershock (Mw 6.9)
in fluviatile area. occurred on 26 of April in Dolakha District at about 80 km in
Paudyal et al. (2012) applied horizontal-to-vertical ratio the north-east direction from the Kathmandu Valley and the
of Fourier spectra (H/V ratio technique) of ambient noise strongest aftershock (Mw 7.3) occurred on 12 May at about
recorded at soil sites to estimate fundamental frequency at 80 KM in the north-east from the Kathmandu Valley. Based on
different parts of the Kathmandu Valley. They reported that the the distribution of aftershocks (Fig. 1) the Gorkha Earthquake
valley has fundamental frequencies in the range between 0.6 ruptured an area of about 150 km in the east-west direction and
to 8.9 Hz in the central and northern part of the sedimentary 40 km in the north-south direction. The Gorkha Earthquake and
basin. In addition to the fundamental frequency, they report its aftershocks have claimed more than 8500 lives officially.
other peaks between 4 and 6 Hz in the central and northern part
of the sedimentary basin. Ground Motion Parameters

Rajaure et al. (2014) investigated the response of the Peak ground acceleration is a high frequency characteristic
Kathmandu Valley sediments using ground acceleration data of ground motion. The observed accelerations during the
recorded in the Kathmandu Valley. It is the first investigation Gorkha Earthquake are smaller than what was expected and
of its kind in the Kathmandu Sedimentary basin, which used therefore the intensity of this earthquake is comparatively low.
acceleration data recorded at four soil sites and one rock site. The epicentral intensity of this earthquake is about VIII and the
They used the ground acceleration data of the 30 August 2013, intensities in the Kathmandu Valley are only about VI to VII.
South-Tibet Earthquake (M4.9) recorded at five sites in the The peak ground acceleration (PGA) recorded at Kantipath
Kathmandu valley. They evaluated the site response function as (USGS site) is about 182.5 cm/sec2 (Fig. 2a) on the vertical
ratio of Fourier amplitude spectrum at soil site with reference component and on the horizontals it's even smaller. However,
to that at a rock site. The response of the soil sites are found on the other hand, the velocity is comparatively large (Fig. 2b).
remarkably similar in the low frequency domain (<0.8 Hz), Velocity is a low frequency characteristic of the ground motion
whereas variation in response can be noticed above 0.8 Hz. and is an important parameter for flexible type structures (tall
The prominent variation exists at frequencies larger than 2 Hz, buildings).

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 The 2015 Gorkha Earthquake and response of the Kathmandu Valley sediments

Fig. 1: The Gorkha earthquake (white star at the left), its strong aftershock (Mw 6.9) at the right (white star) and the aftershocks
(grey solid circles) which occurred by 30th of April. The black circles are the ML>4.0 earthquakes released by the National
Seismological Centre of Department of Mines and Geology (1994-2014). The black dashed rectangle is the inferred rupture area
of the Gorkha Earthquake. Fault plane solutions are from the International Seismological Centre (UK).

Fig. 2: Ground acceleration (a) and velocity (b) recorded at Kantipath. The maximum peak ground acceleration is observed on
the vertical component, whereas the maximum peak ground velocity is observed on the east-west component.

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Rajaure et al.

A Fourier amplitude spectrum depicts how the frequencies were damped and low frequencies were dominant.
amplitudes are distributed with frequencies (or period) in the The predominant frequency of the ground motion at Kantipath
ground motion. Fig. 3(a) depicts the distribution of amplitudes is about 0.2 Hz. In addition to the peak at 0.2 Hz, two more
with frequency at the Kantipath site and reveals that the high peaks are noticed at 0.6 Hz and 1.25 Hz in the spectra (Fig. 3a).

(a) (b)

Fig. 3: Fourier amplitude spectra of the ground motion at the Kantipath site (a) and H/V ratio of the ground motion (b). The
predominant frequency of the ground motion is about 0.2 Hz.

The ratio of Fourier spectrum of horizontal component to produced the 1833, Nepal Earthquake. Therefore, the threat of
that of the vertical component (known as H/V ratio) at a soil great earthquake in the west of Gorkha remains unchanged.
site is commonly used to estimate the fundamental frequency
The Gorkha Earthquake occurred on a gently dipping
of the ground. This technique is commonly used to estimate
part of the Main Himalayan Thrust beneath the Gorkha
fundamental frequency of soil site using ambient ground noise.
District. It ruptured an area of about 150 km in the east-west
In this study, the H/V ratio technique is applied to earthquake
direction and 40 km in north south direction. The rupture of
data recorded at the Kantipath site. Here, the H/V ratio is
the earthquake did not propagate towards west of the epicenter,
calculated using the following formula.
possibly, because a major transverse structure exists close to
the epicenter as can be noticed in the result by Pandey et al.
(1999) and Rajaure et al. (2013), where the NW-SE, trending
seismicity belt is offset.
Where, FNS, FEW and FV stand for the Fourier amplitude of The Kathmandu Valley is underlain by thick succession
north-south, east-west and vertical components of the ground of sedimentary layers. During the Gorkha Earthquake, the
motion, at the corresponding frequencies, respectively. recorded peak ground acceleration was smaller than expected,
however the velocity was relatively large. Peak ground
The H/V ratio of the earthquake data recorded at acceleration is a high frequency characteristic of ground
Kantipath is presented in Fig. 3(b). The figure shows that the motion, which is an important parameter to rigid structures
fundamental frequency of the ground is about 0.2 Hz (5 Sec). (small storey structures). During the Gorkha Earthquake,
The fundamental frequency of the ground closely correlates high frequencies were damped and therefore majority of
with the predominant frequency of the ground motion. the small storey structures survived the ground shaking. On
the other hand, the peak ground velocity is a low frequency
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS characteristic of ground motion and is an important parameter
to the flexible structures (tall buildings). The damage to tall
Great earthquake was anticipated in the region, west of
buildings correlates well with the large peak ground velocity.
Gorkha District based on historical records of earthquakes and
paleoseismic investigation in the region. However, the Gorkha The fundamental frequency of the Kantipath site is about
Earthquake occurred in the region which is believed to have 0.2 Hz. Similarly, there are two other peaks at 0.5 Hz and 1.5

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 The 2015 Gorkha Earthquake and response of the Kathmandu Valley sediments

Hz, respectively. The peak at 0.2 Hz, observed in this study, Department of Mines and Geology (DMG), Seismic data, 1995-
is not noticed in the report of Paudyal et. al. 2012. The peaks 2014 ([Link]), Kathmandu, Nepal.
at 0.2 Hz and 0.5 Hz possibly represent the basin response,
Hough, S. E. and Bilham, R., 2008, Site Response of the
whereas the peak at 1.5 Hz represents the response of shallow
Ganges Basin Inferred from Re-evaluated Macroseismic
sedimentary layer. Multiple resonant frequencies at the site
implicate the possibility of resonance at different frequencies Observations from the 1897 Shillong 1905 Kangra and
1934 Nepal Earthquakes. Jour. Earth System and Sci., v.
The results presented here correspond to the Kantipath 117, pp. 773–782.
site, which is a soil site and is in the middle part of the
Kathmandu Valley. The geology of the Kathmandu Valley is International Seismological Centre. Focal mechanism data,
highly variable and its response could be, different at different [Link] Internatl. Seis. Cent., Thatcham,
places accordingly. A thorough investigation of ground United Kingdom.
response in the Kathmandu Valley would be very helpful Khattri, K. N., 1987, Great earthquakes, seismicity gaps and
to revise building code, strengthen existing structures of potential for earthquake disaster along the Himalaya Plate
historical values and would pave a way for land use planning boundary. Tectonophysics, v. 138, pp. 79–92.
in the Kathmandu Valley.
Khattri, K. N., 1992, Seismic Hazard in Indian Region. Current
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Sci., v. 62, pp. 109–116.
Kramer, S. L., 2008, Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering.
We express sincere thanks to the United States Geological
Pearson Education, 653 p.
Survey (USGS) for the installation of its accelerometer in
Kathmandu at Kantipath. Similarly, We would like to thank Pandey, M. R. and Molnar, P., 1988, The distribution of
the Strong Motion Centre ([Link]) for intensity of the Bihar-Nepal Earthquake of the 15 January
making the acceleration data available to everyone. We are 1934 and bounds on the extent of the rupture zone. Jour.
also thankful to all the officials of the National Seismological Nepal Geol. Soc., v. 5(1), pp. 22–44.
Centre, Nepal who, despite their very hard time, processed and
delivered the result of aftershock location on the website. Pandey, M. R., Tandukar, R. P., Avouac, J. P., Vergne, J. and
Heritier, T., 1999, Seismotectonics of the Nepal Himalaya
from a local seismic network. Jour. Asian Earth Sci., v. 17,
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