Landforms developed across terrain defining boundary the Main Boundary Thrust (MBT) have imprints of recent tectonic activity. Depositional landforms such as colluvial fan bear signatures of later phases of tectonic activity in the form of faulting of colluvial fan deposits and development of fault scarps. Tectonic geomorphology applied to the MBT zone suggests recent subsurface activity along the MBT and its splay thrusts. Present day tectonic activity of MBT is indicated by ground creeping, thrusting of Lower Siwalik rocks over recent colluvial fan deposit, aligning of series of lakes along splay faults and laterally along a fault, deflected streams, fault scarps and waterfalls. In the present paper we are addressing the tectonic situation in the foothill region of southeastern Kumaun Sub-Himalaya, India based on detailed field work carried out in the region which brought forward some outstanding morphotectonic evidence of neotectonic activities in the MBT zone.

We describe a study of the E–W-trending South Wagad Fault (SWF) complex at the eastern part of the Kachchh Rift Basin (KRB) in Western India. This basin was filled during Late Cretaceous time, and is presently undergoing tectonic inversion. During the late stage of the inversion cycle, all the principal rift faults were reactivated as transpressional strike-slip faults. The SWF complex shows wrench geometry of an anastomosing en échelon fault, where contractional and extensional segments and offsets alternate along the Principal Deformation Zone (PDZ). Geometric analysis of different segments of the SWF shows that several conjugate faults, which are a combination of R synthetic and R’ antithetic, propagate at a short distance along the PDZ and interact, generating significant fault slip partitioning. Surface morphology of the fault zone revealed three deformation zones: a 500 m to 1 km wide single fault zone; a 5–6 km wide double fault zone; and a c. 500 m wide diffuse fault zone. The single fault zone is represented by a higher stress accumulation which is located close to the epicentre of the 2001 Bhuj earthquake of M_w 7.7. The double fault zone represents moderate stress at releasing bends bounded by two fault branches. The diffuse fault zone represents a low-stress zone where several fault branches join together. Our findings are well corroborated with the available geological and seismological data.