Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Open Access Master's Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science in Geophysics (MS)

Administrative Home Department

Department of Geological and Mining Engineering and Sciences

Advisor 1

Greg Waite

Committee Member 1

Luke Bowman

Committee Member 2

Yanrui (Daisy) Ning

Abstract

This study examines the patterns of seismicity in western Nepal within the central Himalayan seismic gap and determines whether current earthquake occurrence represents short-term stress release through clustered seismicity or long -term strain accumulation reflected by independent background earthquakes. A unified earthquake catalog was developed by combining regional and global earthquake catalogs and homogenizing magnitudes to moment magnitude (Mw). Completeness analysis based on the Stepp method indicated that this catalog is reliable for Mw ≥ 4.8. A nearest neighbor declustering algorithm has been implemented to identify clustered earthquakes from background seismicity due to long-term tectonic loading. Frequency-magnitude analysis shows b-values consistent with active tectonic environments. Coulomb stress analysis for the Mw 7.8 Gorkha earthquake in 2015 has been performed to assess its impact on western Nepal. The results show that background seismicity dominates and that static stress changes due to this event are small, indicating continued strain accumulation and ongoing seismic hazard in this area

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