_Distribution of the Structural Changes._--The boundary of the
epicentral area, as drawn in Figs. 68 and 75, lays no claim to great
accuracy; but its departure from the true line is probably in no place
considerable. It must evidently include all the districts where
marked structural changes occurred, and must therefore extend east of
Maophlang and west of Tura. Towards the north, these changes have been
traced to the foot of the Garo hills, and there is some, though not
very certain, evidence of alterations of level along the course of the
Brahmaputra. The very large number of after-shocks recorded at Borpeta
and Bijni also points to an extension of the epicentral area beyond
these places. To the east, the course of the boundary becomes
doubtful, but it must pass close to Gauhati and east of Shillong, and
probably ends a short distance beyond Jaintiapur. The southern
boundary must coincide nearly with the north edge of the alluvial
plains of Sylhet, for there is no evidence of its intrusion into the
plains. On the west side, the epicentral area includes the Garo hills
and part of the alluvial plain to the west; and, from the large number
of after-shocks felt at Rangpur and Kaunia, and the great violence of
the shock at the former, we may infer that both places lie within the
boundary-line. If, then, there is no great error in the mapping of
this line, it follows that the epicentre was about 200 miles long from
east to west, not less than 50, and possibly as much as 100, miles in
maximum width, and contained an area of at least 6000 square miles.
Near the boundary, the permanent displacements must have been
comparatively small; but they were certainly marked in the northern
part of the Assam hills for a distance of 100 miles from east to west.
At the limits of the latter area, as Mr. Oldham remarks, "the evidence
points to the changes being of the nature of long, low rolls, the
change of slope being insufficient to cause any appreciable change in
the drainage channels. Then comes a zone in which the surface changes
are more abrupt, the slopes of the stream beds have been altered so as
to cause conspicuous changes in the nature of the streams, but any
fracture or faulting which may have taken place has died out before
the surface was reached. And north of this, close to the edge of the
hills, the rocks have been fractured and faulted right up to the
surface."
ORIGIN OF THE EARTHQUAKE.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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