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The Himalayan orogen is viewed as a compressional wedge with the distribution of great earthquakes (Mw> 8) and highest seismic risk along the range front. New field and numerical modeling results indicate that this view is incomplete owing to the curvature of the orogen. Plate convergence becomes increasingly oblique away from the central axis and highest peaks, and the strain mechanisms vary as obliquity changes along strike. We hypothesize that strain becomes partitioned such that the western parts move northwestwards with respect to the central Himalaya. A previously unrecognized first-order system of northwest-striking transtensional faults, which we refer to as the Western Nepal Faults System (WNFS), can be traced more than 265 km, extending from the normal-convergent Main Frontal Thrust to the range-parallel Karakoram strike slip fault at the rear of the orogen.

The kinematics of the WNFS varies …