The foreland fold and thrust belt of northern Pakistan is located at the western end of the

Himalayan arc, where salt tectonics is responsible for structural styles, hydrocarbon
source areas and seismicity. Three sub-regions of fold and thrust belt are the Potwar
Plateau, Salt Range, Kohat Plateau, Surghar Range and the Bannu Basin Khisor Range.
The difference in deformation intensity between these regions is mainly attributed to the
presence or absence of an Infra-Cambrian salt layer. This study investigates the tectonics
of the Potwar Plateau and Salt Range region, emphasizing the role of salt, using the Small
Baseline Subset Interferometry (SBAS) technique and 2-D seismic interpretations. Ten
PALSAR images and four seismic profiles fromwestern Potwar Plateau–SaltRange
regionwere used. SBAS results, derived fromPALSAR images spanning from2007 to
2010, suggest that thePotwar Plateau–Salt Range is active with the western portion of the
region experiencing an uplift at an average rate of around 10 mm/year. Two uplift
anomalies were observed, which were interpreted as zones of transpression and salt
diapirism. Time-migrated seismic profiles show that the salt layer acts as a detachment.
Our results showthat salt has different roles in different regions of the fold-and-thrust
belt; in the Potwar Plateauregion the salt layer acts as a detachment, while in Salt Range
salt flow-induced structures are prominent. Theintegration of SBAS and 2D seismic
interpretation reveals that the deformation of western Potwar Plateau–Salt
Range is influenced by two main faults, the dextral Kalabagh fault and the Main Frontal
Thrust. Finally, this
work was compared to the Kuqa fold-and-thrust belt in western China due to their
structural similarities.