Present-day deformation of northern Pakistan from Salt Ranges to Karakorum Ranges

Episodic GPS measurements are used to quantify the present‐day velocity field in the northwestern Himalaya from the southern Pamir to the Himalayan foreland. We report large postseismic displacements following the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and several mm/yr thrusting of the central segment of the Salt Ranges and Potwar Plateau over the foreland, westward thrusting of Nanga Parbat above the Kohistan Plateau, and ~12 mm/yr SSE velocities of the Karakorum Ranges and of the Deosai and Kohistan Plateaus relative to the Indian Plate. Numerical simulations allow to determine a first approximation of slip along active faults: (1) substantial creep of ~87 mm/yr between 2006 and 2012 along the flat northeast of the Balakot‐Bagh Thrust affected by the 2005 earthquake; (2) ~5 mm/yr slip of the central segment of the Salt Ranges and Potwar Plateau, whereas their western boundaries are clearly inactive over the time span covered by our measurements; (3) 13 mm/yr ductile slip along the Main Himalayan Thrust modeled by a dislocation dipping 7° northward, locked at a depth of 15 km; and (4) ~20 mm/yr slip along the shear zone forming the western boundary of Nanga Parbat, between depths of 1.6 and 6.5 km. Residuals velocities suggest the existence of left‐lateral strike slip along the Jhelum Fault. Key Points Key GPS data for the NW Himalaya Better understanding of Nanga Parbat tectonics Identification of the Indus‐Kohistan seismic zone as the locking zone of the MHT