Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Pamir; A Review

Komatsu, Tetsuya

Chigaku Zasshi, 125(5), p.661 - 698, 2016/10

https://doi.org/10.5026/jgeography.125.661

The Pamir is a mountain region of the westernmost part of the Himalayan-Tibetan orogen and extends 300 km from north to south and 300-400 km from west to east. The Pamir lies on a double subduction zone, where two buoyant continental lithospheric plates have subducted several hundred kilometers deep into the asthenosphere. The southern plate is the northward-dipping Hindu Kush slab, and the northern plate is the southward-dipping Pamir slab. This paper reviews recent studies on the Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Pamir in this unique tectonic setting.