Pakistan is divided into 5 seismic zones based on their likelihood of experiencing earthquakes. The country sits at the collision point of several tectonic plates, including the African, Arabian, and Indian plates colliding with the Eurasian plate. This collision has generated complex folding patterns and active faults. Some of the major seismic zones in Pakistan include the Hindu Kush-West Karakoram zone, which experiences frequent magnitude 5-7 quakes from subduction along the Akbaytal fault. The Yasin zone is seismically active due to movement along the Main Karakoram Thrust fault. Overall, Pakistan experiences earthquakes due to its location between colliding tectonic plates and active fault zones.

1. SEISMIC ZONES OF PAKISTAN

2. SEISMIC ZONE
 Seismic : Pertaining to an earthquake or vibration.
relating to earthquakes or other vibrations of the
earth and its crust.
 Zone : A region of latitude more or less from
surrounding region by some distinct character.
Seismic Zone:
the seismic zone is likhood of an area being
subject to an earthquake.

3. TECTONIC ZONE:
 The regions where tectonic activities occurs
 The movement along the plate boundaries and
changes due to deep inside the earth
 body earthquake, fission , rifts and volcanoes are
some observable resulting features of these zones.

4. REGIONAL SETTING OF PAKISTAN
 The African, Arabian, and Indian plates are colliding
with the Eurasian plate. Heavy lines with and
without barbs indicate the major active faults and
plate boundaries. Thin lines are trends of folds
generated during the collisions. Northward
promontories of the Arabian and Indian Plates have
produced complex shortening patterns, particularly
in the Hindu Kush-Pamir-Karakoram region.
Impingement of the Indian Plate has continued for
about 50 million years, whereas the Arabian Plate
collision is more recent and began about 20 million
years ago.

5. REGIONAL SETTING OF PAKISTAN

6. SIESMIC ZONES OF PAKISTAN
 The seismic zone system (0,1,2,3,4) used for
building codes.
 The Pakistan is divided into 5 seismic zones :
1) 1
2) 2A
3) 2B
4) 3
5) 4

7. SIESMIC ZONES OF PAKISTAN

8. SIESMIC ZONES OF PAKISTAN
 Hindu Kush-West Karakoram seismic zone
 Yasin seismic zone
 Hamran seismic zone
 Indus Kohistan seismic zone
 Tarbela and Hazara seismic zone
 Punjab seismic zone
 Sulaiman seismic zone
 North Kirthar seismic zone
 Chaman seismic zone
 Makran seismic zone

9. SIESMIC MAP OF PAKISTAN

10. HINDU KUSH-WEST KARAKORAM SEISMIC
ZONE
 This region comprises of Tirich Mir region and adjacent
Afghan territory. It is seismically hyperactive zone with
frequent earthquake of magnitude 5-7 and focal depth of
100-200km.According to Belington(1977)these features
are typical of regions of active lithosphere subduction.
 Focal mechanism solutions and spatial distribution of
earthquakes and their hypocenters indicate the presence
of a fault plane down to about 200 km depth and a 25 km
thick contorted Benioff zone within the upper mantle,
which indicates active lithospheric subduction.

11. Reason of Seismicity
 This zone coincides with the Akbaytal Fault, which is
the eastward extension of Herat Fault.
 The Akbaytal fault separates the Central Pamir
block in the north from the North Pamir block. This
fault features also a few ophiolite massifs.

12. Reginal Map Showing Hindukush Area

13. Akbaytal Fault

14. YASIN SEISMIC ZONE
 The region around the town of Yasin is seismically
active and there is a cluster of several earthquake
epicenter of magnitude of 3-5 and focal depth less
than 50km.
 The Main Karakoram Thrust passes through this
zone and it may be the source of the seismic activity.

15. Map Showing Faults Around The Yasin
Seismic Zone

16. Main Karakoram Thrust
 The Main Karakoram Thrust or the northern mega
shear represents the collision zone of the southern
margin of Eurasian plate in Asia and extends into the
Baltistan area.
 Seismically active thrust with a large number of
earthquakes of low to medium intensity.

17. Main Karakoram Thrust

18. On Seismicity Earthquakes Hazard distribution
in Pakistan

19. References
I. Geology and Tectonics of Pakistan by Kazmi and
Jan.
II. Geodynamics of Pakistan by Abdul Farah, Kees A
Dejong.
III. A review on ‘‘Mantle exhumation along the Tirch
Mir fault zone, NW Pakistan’’ by Zanchi et al.
2000.

20. THANKS