- 2068 Baisakh · 3 marks
Short note: Main Frontal Thrust
Short answer
The Main Frontal Thrust (MFT), also called Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT), is the southernmost major thrust of the Nepal Himalaya. It separates the Siwalik hills from the Terai plain and is the youngest and most active thrust, thrusting Miocene-Pleistocene rocks southward over Quaternary alluvium. It poses earthquake hazards, surface rupture, and slope instability for engineering structures.
Write a short note on the Main Frontal Thrust.
The Main Frontal Thrust (MFT), also called the Himalayan Frontal Thrust (HFT), is the southernmost major thrust of the Nepal Himalaya. It separates the Siwalik zone in the north from the Terai (Indo-Gangetic) plain in the south and runs roughly east-west along the foot of the Churiya range.
- Movement: the Siwalik rocks (Miocene-Pleistocene) are thrust southward over the Quaternary alluvium of the Terai.
- Activity: it is the youngest and most active of the Himalayan thrusts; it is active even today, with Holocene scarps and uplifted terraces.
- Nature: a series of splays, and in places blind thrusts.
- Engineering importance: earthquake hazard, surface rupture, ground deformation, slope instability at the Churiya foot, changes in river course and groundwater, and so it affects dams, barrages, bridges and roads of the Terai.
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