The steep escarpment indicates vertical displacement along the Dauki Fault Zone where the Bangladesh plains subside actively.
The northeastern part of the Bengal Basin experiences strong seismicity believed to be caused by the Dauki Fault System.
These sand dikes formed during the Great Assam Earthquake of 12 June 1897 (Mw ⩾ 8.0[7]) caused by the rupture of the Dauki fault.
It has been observed from the studies that the Dauki fault zone and the areas in Bangladesh show various tectonic features, which are mostly controlled by vertical movements.
The Zone is conventionally thought of as representing the dividing line between the Indian Platform with full thickness of continental crust and the Bengal Foredeep.
In the west, the hanging wall block of Dauki fault meets the non-folded, undeformed, near horizontal sedimentaries of Sylhet trough of Neogene.
It is proposed that the Sylhet sediments were deposited in a pull-apart basin in the releasing bend of Dauki fault during the dextral strike slip movement.