ScienceAsia 33 (2007): 023-033 |doi: 10.2306/scienceasia1513-1874.2007.33.023

Detecting Active Faults Using Remote-Sensing Technique :A Case Study in the Sri Sawat Area, Western Thailand

Rattakorn Songmuang^a, Punya Charusiri^a*, Montree Choowong^a, Krit Won-In^a,b, Isao Takashima^b. and Suwith Kosuwan^c

 
ABSTRACT: The result of remotely sensing data interpretation of the Sri Sawat Fault to the south of the Srinakarin Dam reveals that the major regional trend of lineaments is in the north to north-northwest direction mostly situated between two major northwest-trending faults, viz. the Mae Ping and the Three- Pagoda Faults. The studied fault eventually joins the Three-Pagoda Fault at its southern end. Space-borne image and aerial photographic interpretation together with ground truth survey also indicate three other minor faults in the northeast-southwest, north-south, and east-west directions. Several well-defined morphotectonic landforms in the study area including fault scarps, triangular facets, erosional benches, offset streams, shutter ridges and beheaded streams, are well recognized both from remotely-sensed data and in the field. These landforms, which are in most cases related to the studied fault, indicate the occurrence of both vertical and horizontal slip components in Quaternary sedimentary sequences. The thermoluminescence dating on fault-related sediments also confirmed the above active-faulting which generated the paleoearthquake with a possible-magnitude of M6.3 on the Richter scle.

KEYWORDS: Sawat Faults, remote-sensing, active fault, earthquakes, Western Thailand.

Download PDF

^a Earthquake and Tectonic Geology Research Unit (EATGRU), c/o Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok 10330, Thailand.
^b Research Institute of Materials and Resources, Faculty of Engineering and Resource Science, Akita University, 1-1 Tegatagakuen, Akita, Japan.
^c Department of Mineral Resources, Environmental Geology and Geohazard Division, Rama VI Road, Bangkok 10400, Thailand.

* Corresponding author, E-mail: cpunya@chula.ac.th

Received 21 Jun 2005, Accepted 4 Aug 2006