Static stress change from February 6, 2017 (M 5.8) earthquake Northwestern Himalaya, India

Abstract We calculated the static stress changes from the moderate Mb=5.8 earthquake that shook Uttarakhand, India on February 6, 2017. The Coulomb stress change map on target fault planes oriented by assuming a regional compressional stress regime with the greatest principal stress directed orthogonally to the mainshock strike. Calculation sensitivity was tested by varying assumed stress orientations, target-fault friction, and frictional coefficient. The results signify that there is depth dependency of coulomb stress in the region as the stress perturbation can vary depending on the depth of computation for the study region. Also, for varying frictional coefficient, coulomb static stress computed is seemed to be independent of it in the study area for the studied recent 2017 Rudraprayag earthquake. Coulomb stress calculated over the MHT detachment suggests stress shadow over some parts of the Vaikrita Thrust (VT) and substantial-high stress is observed over the entire Himalayan detachment.