The Kumaon Himalaya lies in the central seismic gap and therefore bears the potential to host a great Himalayan earthquake. The seismicity and seismotectonics of the Kumaon Himalaya and the adjacent region have been investigated based on local earthquake data recorded at 18 seismological stations. The seismically active zone of the eastern segment of the Kumaon Himalaya deviates from the usual pattern of seismicity in the Himalayan Seismic Belt of the NW Himalaya. Shallow-focus earthquakes in this region largely concentrate in the Chiplakot Crystalline Belt (CCB) immediately south of the Vaikrita Thrust. The Focal Mechanism Solutions of 41 earthquakes computed through waveform inversion technique along with the solutions of 12 earthquakes obtained from the Global Centroid Moment Tensor solution catalog are used to investigate the kinematics of the region. The study reveals a complex faulting pattern in the Inner Lesser Himalaya. The stress inversion results show a widely distributed stress pattern and low frictional coefficient which are attributed as one of the major causes of clustered seismicity observed in the CCB. Careful examination of the fault orientations indicate the presence of a hinterland dipping Lesser Himalayan Duplex over the ramp structure on the Main Himalayan Thrust. The high compressive stress and deformation rate in the CCB are partially accommodated by this duplex structure. The large concentration of shallow-focus earthquakes in the CCB is the result of the presence of fluid-rich zone as well as strain localization and large stress build-up due to locking in the ramp structure on the Main Himalayan Thrust beneath the CCB.

库玛喜马拉雅山位于中央地震带，因此有可能引发喜马拉雅大地震。根据在18个地震台站记录的当地地震数据，对Kumaon喜马拉雅山及邻近地区的地震活动和地震构造进行了调查。Kumaon喜马拉雅山脉东段的地震活动带与西北喜马拉雅山喜马拉雅地震带的通常地震活动模式不同。该地区的浅层地震主要集中在Vaikrita推力以南的Chiplakot结晶带（CCB）。通过波形反演技术计算的41次地震的震源机制解以及从全球质心矩张量解目录中获得的12次地震的解被用于研究该区域的运动学。这项研究揭示了喜马拉雅内陆地区一个复杂的断层模式。应力反演结果表明，应力模式分布广泛且摩擦系数低，这是在CCB中观测到的聚集地震活动的主要原因之一。对断层方向的仔细检查表明，在喜马拉雅主冲断层的斜坡结构上有一个浸入小喜马拉雅双体的腹地。CCB中的高压缩应力和变形率部分地被该双工结构所容纳。