A sequence of three strong (M W 7.2, 6.4, 6.6) earthquakes struck the Pamir of Central Asia in 2015–2017. With a local seismic network, we recorded the succession of the fore-, main-, and aftershock sequences at local distances with good azimuthal coverage. We located 11,784 seismic events and determined 33 earthquake moment tensors. The seismicity delineates the tectonic structures of the Pamir in unprecedented detail, i.e., the thrusts that absorb shortening along the Pamir’s thrust front, and the strike-slip and normal faults that dissect the Pamir Plateau into a westward extruding block and a northward advancing block. Ruptures on the kinematically dissimilar faults were activated subsequently from the initial M W 7.2 Sarez event at times and distances that follow a diffusion equation. All mainshock areas but the initial one exhibited foreshock activity, which was not modulated by the occurrence of the earlier earthquakes. Modeling of the static Coulomb stress changes indicates that aftershock triggering occurred over distances of ≤90 km on favorably oriented faults. The third event in the sequence, the M W 6.6 Muji earthquake, ruptured despite its repeated stabilization through stress transfer in the order of -10 kPa. To explain the accumulation of M W > 6 earthquakes, we reason that the initial mainshock may have increased nearby fault permeability, and facilitated fluid migration into the mature fault zones, eventually triggering the later large earthquakes.

Using E-W and vertical deformation-rate maps derived from radar interferometric time-series, we analyze the deformation field of an entire orogenic segment, i.e., the Tajik depression and its adjoining mountain belts, Tian Shan, Pamir, and Hindu Kush. The data-base consists of 900+ radar scenes acquired over 2.0–4.5 years and global navigation satellite system measurements. The recent, supra-regional kinematics is visualized in an unprecedented spatio-temporal resolution. We confirm the westward collapse of the Pamir-Plateau crust, inverting the Tajik basin into a fold-thrust belt with shortening rates decaying westward from ~15 to 2 mm/yr. Vertical rates in the Hindu Kush likely record slab-dynamic effects, i.e., the progressive break-off of the Hindu Kush slab. At least 10 mm/yr of each, uplift and westward motion occur along the western edge of the Pamir Plateau, outlining the crustal-scale ramp along which the Pamir Plateau overrides the Tajik depression. The latter shows a combination of basin-scale tectonics, halokinesis, and seasonal/weather-driven near-surface effects. Abrupt ~6 mm/yr horizontal-rate changes occur across the kinematically-linked dextral Ilyak strike-slip fault, bounding the Tajik fold-thrust belt to the north, and the Babatag backthrust, the major thrust of the fold-thrust belt, located far west in the belt. The sharp rate decay across the Ilyak fault indicates a locking depth of ≤1 km. The Hoja Mumin salt fountain is spreading laterally at ≤350 mm/yr. On the first-order, the modern 20–5 and fossil (since ~12 Ma) 12–8 mm/yr shortening rates across the fold-thrust belt correspond.

In the Katha Range of central Myanmar, lithologic tracers and pressure-temperature-deformation-time data identify Cambro-Ordovician, Indian-affinity Tethyan Himalaya Series (THS), located ~700 km from their easternmost outcrop in S-Tibet and ~450 km from Himalayan rocks in the Eastern Himalayan Syntaxis (EHS). Metamorphism began at ~65 Ma, peaked at ~45 Ma (~510°C, 0.93 GPa), and exhumation/cooling (~25°C/Myr) occurred until ~30 Ma in a subduction-early collision setting. When the Burma microplate—part of the intra-Tethyan Incertus-arc—accreted to SE-Asia, its eastern boundary, the southern continuation of the Indus-Yarlung suture (IYS), was reactivated as the Sagaing fault (SF), which propagated northward into Indian rocks. In the Katha rocks, this strike-slip stage is marked by ~4°C/Myr exhumation/cooling. Restoring the SF system defines a continental collision-oceanic subduction transition junction, where the IYS bifurcates into the SF at the eastern edge of the Burma microplate and the Jurassic ophiolite-Jadeite belt that includes the Incertus suture.

The western Tauern Window of the Eastern Alps constitutes a mature transpressive wrench zone generated by Oligocene-Miocene convergence between the Dolomites Indenter and the European foreland. As a major structural divide, it translates convergence-parallel north-south shortening into convergence-perpendicular eastward lateral extrusion. About 7000 foliation, lineation, fold-axis, axial-plane, shear-zone, and shear-band measurements at ~1800 sites detail the structural geometry and evolution during indentation and transpression, modeled by numerical and analogue-material experiments. The results outline the western Tauern Window as an orogen-scale zone of localized deformation, consisting of tight, upright folds, reactivated by a sinistral shear-zone network. It connects the Giudicarie Belt southwest of the indenter salient with the Salzach-Ennstal-Mariazell-Puchberg Fault (SEMP) in the northeast. This transpressive zone has a sigmoidal vortex geometry, decoupling the Ötztal Basement in the west from the extruding wedges of the Eastern Alps in the east. Shortening was successively absorbed by nappe stacking, upright folding, and dome formation and then maintained by transpressional shearing that led to lateral extrusion, probably promoted by a change in the lithospheric configuration. The western part of the SEMP likely rotated ≥20° clockwise around a pole approximately halfway along its entire length during the indentation.

Zircon Raman dating is an emergent thermochronological method. It exploits the disruption of the zircon lattice due to α-disintegration of trace amounts of 238U, 235U, 232Th, and their daughters. The radiation damage broadens the Raman bands and shifts them to lower wavenumbers. The Raman bandwidths provide a sensitive measure for the accumulated lattice damage (Nasdala et al., 1995; Nasdala et al., 2001). The measured bandwidth and the effective uranium concentration define the Raman age (Härtel et al., 2021). Radiation damage anneals upon heating and the meaning of the Raman age depends on the zircon’s thermal history. The Raman age is a formation age if no annealing has taken place, or a reset age if all pre-existing damage has been annealed by a geological heating event. In the case of partial annealing, however, the Raman age is a mixed age with no obvious geological significance. Mixed ages are difficult to interpret and cannot be distinguished from reset ages using the standard procedure for annealing detection (Nasdala et al., 2001). On the other hand, inhomogeneous damage distributions due to actinide zoning within zircon grains present a problem for zircon Raman dating. Overlapping signals from more and less damaged zones lead to asymmetric Raman bands and overestimated bandwidths (Nasdala et al., 2005). We discuss Raman spectra of zircon from partially annealed samples and spectra with asymmetric bands. We introduce discrimination plots based on the 356, 439, and 1008 cm-1 bandwidths that provide a means for detecting and distinguishing asymmetry and partial annealing. We discuss examples of zircon Raman dating and present a measurement protocol.