Major Lineaments of Karnataka State and their Relation to Seismicity: A Remote Sensing Based Analysis

Major lineaments of Karnataka State with length more than 100 km were mapped using satellite remote sensing data and were correlated with the earthquake occurrences. The results of the study show that there are 43 major lineaments and 33 earthquake occurrences with magnitude above 3 (since 1828) in the State. 23 of these earthquakes were found to be associated with 8 major lineaments. The Mandya-Channapatna-Bangalore lineament, Lakshman Thirtha- KRS-Bangalore lineament, and Chelur-Kolar-Battipalle lineament are some of the seismically active lineaments identified in the study. Most of the earthquakes are confined to the southern part of the State indicating that south Karnataka is seismically more active. Hence, there is a need to upgrade the seismic zonation of Karnataka especially for areas surrounding Mandya, Bangalore, and Kolar. The earthquakes appear to have occurred due to movement alonglacross faults and warrant detailed study of seismically active lineaments using latest techniques like Global Positioning System (GPS), Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR), Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) Interferometry, and Thermal Remote Sensing.