An XFEM Model for Seismic Activity in Indian Plate

Empirical approaches based on the available earthquake catalog are popular among engineers to estimate seismic hazard. The seismic activity on individual faults inferred from these approaches is associated with a large number of uncertainties, especially due to lack of data. This article proposes a mechanistic approach to quantify seismic and fault activity, thereby overcoming the difficulties in the existing empirical procedure. A finite element (FE) model for Indian Plate, with the geological ‘cratons’ is developed and subject to plate driving forces namely, the ridge push and the slab pull forces. The material properties and the thickness of both plate and cratons are obtained through inversion using the recently available Global Positioning System (GPS) data. The tectonic faults are modeled using the well-known ‘extended FE method (XFEM)’. The simulated strains at fault level are compared with the computed strain rates from the earthquake catalog. Further, the procedure to quantify fault activity is demonstrated for Gujarat, India.