Chamberlain, E.L.Goodbred, S.L.Steckler, M.S.Wallinga, J.Reimann, T.Akhter, S.H.Bain, R.Muktadir, G.Al Nahian, A.Rahman, F.M.A.Rahman, M.Seeber, L.von Hagke, C.2024-07-262024-07-262024Nature Communications, 2024; 15(1):4975-1-4975-122041-17232041-1723https://hdl.handle.net/2440/141698Earthquakes present severe hazards for people and economies and can be primary drivers of landscape change yet their impact to river-channel networks remains poorly known. Here we show evidence for an abrupt earthquake-triggered avulsion of the Ganges River at ~2.5 ka leading to relocation of the mainstem channel belt in the Bengal delta. This is recorded in freshly discovered sedimentary archives of an immense relict channel and a paleo-earthquake of sufficient magnitude to cause major liquefaction and generate large, decimeter-scale sand dikes >180 km from the nearest seismogenic source region. Precise luminescence ages of channel sand, channel fill, and breached and partially liquefied floodplain deposits support coeval timing of the avulsion and earthquake. Evidence for reorganization of the river-channel network in the world’s largest delta broadens the risk posed by seismic events in the region and their recognition as geomorphic agents in this and other tectonically active lowlands. The recurrence of comparable earthquake-triggered ground liquefaction and a channel avulsion would be catastrophic for any of the heavily populated, large river basins and deltas along the Himalayan arc (e.g., Indus, Ganges, Brahmaputra, Ayeyarwady). The compounding effects of climate change and human impacts heighten and extend the vulnerability of many lowlands worldwide to such cascading hazards.en© The Author(s) 2024. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/.Geomorphology; Hydrology; Natural hazards; Sedimentology; SeismologyJournal article10.1038/s41467-024-47786-42024-07-01699113Rahman, M. [0000-0003-3852-841X]