Chaman Fault

The Chaman Fault is a major active fault system running more than 850 kilometers through Pakistan and Afghanistan, from a triple junction off Pakistan's Makran coast northeast through Balochistan and into Afghanistan, passing west of Kabul before merging with the Pamir fault system. It forms a transform, left lateral strike slip boundary between the Eurasian and Indo-Australian plates, though it also carries a compressional component as the Indian plate presses into Eurasia, giving it a transpressional character; estimated slip rates range from about 10 millimeters a year up to 25 to 35 millimeters a year in places. The fault has produced severe historical earthquakes, most notably the magnitude 7.7 Quetta earthquake of 1935, which killed an estimated 35,000 people, as well as a 1892 event and a smaller 1978 rupture with about 4 centimeters of offset over a 5 kilometer stretch.