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\"An account of the Asian frontier's long and rich history and its modern significance.\"--Publisher's description.

We present a brief, but precise description of the geodynamic evolution, and tectono-structural framework of the Bengal Basin. The tectonic map (Main Map) at 1:12,50,000 scale should be considered as a first attempt to provide a more comprehensive and accurate geotectonic cartography of the entire region, with respect to the available maps in the published literatures, and in the light of scientific advances in geodynamics, tectonics and structures reached in the last decades plus new geological field works carried out in some key sectors of the Bengal Basin. The tectonic map of the Bengal Basin improves the knowledge of the geometry of the basin boundary, tectonic settings and relevant structures, and its relation to the collision of the Indian and the Burmese plates. Three schematic geological cross-sections illustrate the tectonic architecture of the basin in depth as well as surroundings. The latest understanding of the present-day geodynamics would help to develop advanced kinematic and dynamic modelling of the Bengal Basin in relation to the pre- and post-collisional stages of the Indian Plate.

We have analyzed 18 permanent GPS stations in and around the Indian plate to understand inter- and intraplate deformation patterns of infinitesimal strain variations. Differential deformation pattern along and across strike of the Himalaya shows westward decrease in crustal shortening with strong influence of the local geology. Subduction rate toward the eastern Indian plate boundary decreases drastically from south to north, indicating the development of locking condition. Excluding the western boundary of the Indian plate, which is under strong deformation due to flexuring of crust, the rest part of the Indian plate is rigid. Indo-Gangetic plain plays a key role in mountain building processes. The proposed kinematic model suggests the dominance of tensional forces and compressional forces toward craton margin and mountain front, respectively, with conditions for the development of proto-thrust in the form of step-out structures, south of MFT. Strain analysis shows western and eastern ends of the Himalayan front are under strong extensional and compressional strain, indicating the probability of future earthquakes. Similar high strain conditions also prevail on the west coast of the Indian craton as well Ganga–Brahmaputra Delta and Burma Arc region toward the northeastern corner of the Indian craton.

Northeast India and its vicinity is one of the seismically most active regions in the world, where a few large and several moderate earthquakes have occurred in the past. In this study the region of northeast India has been considered for an earthquake generation model using earthquake data as reported by earthquake catalogues National Geophysical Data Centre, National Earthquake Information Centre, United States Geological Survey and from book prepared by Gupta et al. (1986) for the period 1906–2008. The events having a surface wave magnitude of Ms≥5.5 were considered for statistical analysis. In this region, nineteen seismogenic sources were identified by the observation of clustering of earthquakes. It is observed that the time interval between the two consecutive mainshocks depends upon the preceding mainshock magnitude (Mp) and not on the following mainshock (Mf). This result corroborates the validity of time-predictable model in northeast India and its adjoining regions. A linear relation between the logarithm of repeat time (T) of two consecutive events and the magnitude of the preceding mainshock is established in the form LogT = cMp+a, where \"c\" is a positive slope of line and \"a\" is function of minimum magnitude of the earthquake considered. The values of the parameters \"c\" and \"a\" are estimated to be 0.21 and 0.35 in northeast India and its adjoining regions. The less value of c than the average implies that the earthquake occurrence in this region is different from those of plate boundaries. The result derived can be used for long term seismic hazard estimation in the delineated seismogenic regions.

For the Himalayas and neighboring regions, the maps of seismic hazard and seismic risk are constructed with the use of the estimates for the parameters of the unified scaling law for earthquakes (USLE), in which the Gutenberg-Richter law for magnitude distribution of seismic events within a given area is applied in the modified version with allowance for linear dimensions of the area, namely, log N ( M , L ) = A + B (5 − M ) + C log L , where N ( M , L ) is the expected annual number of the earthquakes with magnitude M in the area with linear dimension L . The spatial variations in the parameters A , B , and C for the Himalayas and adjacent regions are studied on two time intervals from 1965 to 2011 and from 1980 to 2011. The difference in A , B , and C between these two time intervals indicates that seismic activity experiences significant variations on a scale of a few decades. With a global consideration of the seismic belts of the Earth overall, the estimates of coefficient A , which determines the logarithm of the annual average frequency of the earthquakes with a magnitude of 5.0 and higher in the zone with a linear dimension of 1 degree of the Earth’s meridian, differ by a factor of 30 and more and mainly fall in the interval from −1.1 to 0.5. The values of coefficient B , which describes the balance between the number of earthquakes with different magnitudes, gravitate to 0.9 and range from less than 0.6 to 1.1 and higher. The values of coefficient C , which estimates the fractal dimension of the local distribution of epicenters, vary from 0.5 to 1.4 and higher. In the Himalayas and neighboring regions, the USLE coefficients mainly fall in the intervals of −1.1 to 0.3 for A , 0.8 to 1.3 for B , and 1.0 to 1.4 for C . The calculations of the local value of the expected peak ground acceleration (PGA) from the maximal expected magnitude provided the necessary basis for mapping the seismic hazards in the studied region. When doing this, we used the local estimates of the magnitudes which, according to USLE, corresponded to the probability of exceedance 1% and 10% during 50 years or, if the reliable estimate is absent, the maximal magnitudes reported during the instrumental period. As a result, the seismic hazard maps for the Himalayas and the adjacent regions in terms of standard seismic zoning were constructed. Based on these calculations, in order to exemplify the method, we present a series of seismic risk maps taking into account the population density prone to seismic hazard and the dependence of the risk on the vulnerability as a function of population density.

Chronicles major domestic and international events relating to Cuba between 1975 and 1978.