Evidence of the 1762 Arakan and Prior Earthquakes in the Northern Sunda Subduction

236 Pages·2017·18.61 MB·English

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Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects CUNY Graduate Center
2-2018
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Dhiman Ranjan Mondal
The Graduate Center, City University of New York
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EVIDENCE OF THE 1762 ARAKAN AND PRIOR EARTHQUAKES IN
THE NORTHERN SUNDA SUBDUCTION
by
Dhiman Ranjan Mondal

A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty in Earth and Environmental Sciences in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy,
The City University of New York
2018
Copyright © 2018
Dhiman Ranjan Mondal
All Rights Reserved
II
Evidence of the 1762 Arakan and prior earthquakes in the Northern Sunda Subduction
By
Dhiman Ranjan Mondal
This manuscript has been read and accepted for the Graduate Faculty in Earth and Environmental
Sciences in satisfaction of the dissertation requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy.
Professor Dr. Cecilia McHugh
Date: ______________________ ______________________________
Chair of the Examining Committee

Professor Dr. Cindi Katz
Date: ______________________ ______________________________
Executive Officer
Supervisory Committee
Dr. Harold Connolly
Dr. Jeffrey Marsh
Dr. Michael Steckler
Dr. Richard Mortlock
THE CITY UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK
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Abstract
Evidence of the 1762 Arakan and Prior Earthquakes in the Northern Sunda Subduction
By
Dhiman Ranjan Mondal
Advisor: Professor Dr. Cecilia M. McHugh

The objective of this dissertation is to understand the seismic hazard associated with
Arakan segment of the northern Sunda subduction along SE Bangladesh. In order to do that, it is
necessary to document geologic evidence for the 1762 Arakan earthquake and prior events, to
help estimate the recurrence interval (repeat time) for that earthquake. Historical records
described that the 1762 earthquake caused extensive damage along the Arakan segment of the
Sunda subduction system. But the geologic evidence for the earthquake farther north is necessary
to better understand its associated seismic hazard to the densely populated nation of Bangladesh.
This dissertation presents the results obtained from U/Th dating of the dead and live coral
microatolls including their elevations measured by high precision GPS from the Saint Martin’s
Island, DEM analysis and elevation of terraces from Teknaf coast and fault dislocation modeling
based on the data obtained from the Saint Martin’s Island and Teknaf.
Coral microatolls from Saint Martin’s island documents the evidence of the 1762 and
prior earthquakes. The U/Th ages documents strong evidence of microatoll die offs related to the
1762 earthquake. The >2 m elevation difference between the dead microatolls and present-day
living corals suggest that the microatolls died due to the coseismic uplift of 1762 Arakan
earthquake. This dissertation also provides evidence for two additional earthquakes taking place
in ~700 and ~1140 C.E. which suggests an earthquake recurrence interval of ~500 years.
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Geomorphic studies documented three terraces along the coast of Teknaf. Several marine
terraces have been previously documented along the west coast of Myanmar. The youngest of
these terraces has been correlated to the coseismic uplift of 1762 Arakan along the Myanmar
coast. The terraces along the coast of Teknaf are characterized by flat to semi-flat surfaces
followed by sharp topographic rises. DEM (Digital Elevation System) analysis and GPS (Global
Positioning System) survey documented 2 to 3 terraces. Among these three, the youngest terrace
is possibly linked to the 1762 Arakan Earthquake but the ages have not been verified.
Modeling using the data obtained from Saint Martin’s Island, Teknaf and other published
articles (for the west coast of Teknaf) suggest a fault dipping at 10-15° to the northeast. The
result of coseismic slip inversion shows 15 - 25 m of reverse slip along the Arakan rupture
segment, which was accommodated by the upper plate failure. Based on our results from coral
microatolls, terraces and the modeling study, this dissertation suggests that this segment of the
Arakan collision zone has the potential to cause a future earthquake of Mw>8 which can produce
a devastating effect to the inhabitants of Bangladesh, Myanmar and Eastern India.

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This dissertation is dedicated to my aunt
Bharati Rani

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Acknowledgements
This dissertation concludes 5 ½ years of my graduate study and research at the City
University of New York. I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt gratitude to
all the people who have helped me get to this point.
First and foremost, I would like to express my deep and sincere thanks to my dissertation
advisor Professor Cecilia McHugh. This research work and dissertation would not have been
possible without her guidance, support and mentorship. Over the past years, countless meetings
and countless hours of discussion helped me to enrich my knowledge in both field and
laboratories.
I also would like to thank my other committee members, Dr. Michael Steckler, Dr.
Richard Mortlock, Dr. Harold Connolly and Dr. Jeffrey Marsh for taking their time out of their
busy schedule to review this work.
Special thanks to the Earth and Environmental Sciences department at Queens College
for providing me the lab and office facility. This is the place where I spent most of my last 5
years with joy and happiness. Also, thanks to my labmates- Md. Sharif Mustaque, Edwice
Lature, Amanda Bastas-Hernandez, and Pariskeh Hosseini.
Special thanks to the Fairbank Laboratory of Rutgers University for letting me use the
clean lab facility and ICPMS. I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Richard Mortlock and
Dr. Nicole Adbul for providing me training on chemical analysis of coral.
I would like to show my gratitude to Queens College, Gural Foundation, Graduate Center
Dissertation Fellowship, Office of Naval Research and National Science Foundation for
providing me the financial support to complete this dissertation, and Dr. Peter Knappett for
providing me his GPS which was a key instrument in this research.
VII
Department of Geology at the University of Dhaka provided unconditional support
during the fieldworks in Saint Martin’s Island and Teknaf. Special thanks to my former M.Sc.
advisor Dr. Syed Humayun Akhter for the support that he provided during the fieldwork in
Bangladesh. Graduate student Pritam Saha, Masud Iqbal, Alamgir Hossain, Mohibul Hossain,
Enayet Shovon provided unprecedented support as field assistant.
Finally, I would especially thank my family. My lovely wife, Dr. Mousumi Joysoual has
been extremely supportive of me throughout this entire process and has made countless sacrifices
to help me get to this point. My daughter Arunima Joyoshree has continually provided the
requisite breaks from the thesis, and the motivation to finish my degree with expediency. My
father Amulya Ranjan Mondal, mother Joyanti Rani Mondal, my younger brother Amit Ranjan
Mondal, my father-in-law Moti Prasad Joysoual, mother-in-law Munni Saha and sister-in-law
Mita Joysoual deserve special thanks for their continued support and encouragement.
Without such a team behind me, I doubt that I would be in this place today.

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Abbreviations

BIWTA Bangladesh Inland Water Transport Authority

DDW Double De-ionized Water

DEM Digital Elevation Model

EGM96 Earth Gravitational Model 1996

ENSO El Nino Southern Oscillation

GEM Global Earthquake Model

GPS Global Positioning System

GT Gigaton

HLS Highest Level of Survival

ICPMS Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry

IODM Indian Ocean Dipole Moment

MMI Modified Mercalli Intensity

RPD Retarding Potential Quadruple

RTX Real Time eXtended

SD Standard Deviation

SEM Secondary Electron Multiplier

SRTM Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission

SSB Sample Standard Bracketing

USGS United States Geological Survey

XRD X-Ray Diffraction

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