We use the full waveform inversion method to study the crustal-mantle seismic structure beneath Central Asia. By combining earthquake waveforms and ambient noise cross-correlations, we construct a 3D model of Vp and Vs down to a depth of 220 km. This model reveals a complex Indian-Asian plate configuration and interaction, resulting from the plate subduction, indentation, and break-off. Beneath the Hindu Kush, the marginal Indian slab with its lower crust is successfully imaged, the latter of which hosts vigorous intermediate-depth seismicity. The subducted marginal Indian slab can be traced further east to the Kohistan Arc, which is a previously undetected structure. We first imaged a flat cratonic Indian plate beneath the Pamir. The indentation of the cratonic Indian plate forces the Asian plate to delaminate, indicated by the south-eastwards dipping high-velocity anomalies, atop which a south-dipping low-velocity zone is observed with higher resolution than previous studies, which we interpret as the delaminated Asian lower crust. In addition, a sharp velocity transition at lithospheric depth is newly discovered and coincides with the Talas-Ferghana fault, delineating the boundary of the Ferghana basin with the Central Tian Shan. Low-velocity anomalies mainly focus beneath the south and northern part of the Central Tian Shan with deep Moho, indicating the lithosphere is possibly delaminated and the deformation of the Central Tian Shan is probably concentrated at the north and south margins by the Tarim basin and Kazakh Shield, respectively. In contrast, West Tian Shan displays a simpler lithospheric structure with a single deep Moho.

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.

A new seismic velocity model for the south Central Andes is derived from full waveform inversion, covering the Pampean flat and adjacent Payenia steep subduction segments. Strong focused crustal low-velocity anomalies indicate partial melts in the Payenia segment along the volcanic arc, whereas weaker low-velocity anomalies covering a wide zone in Pampean possibly indicates remnant melts in the past. Thinning and tearing of the flat Nazca slab below the Pampean is inferred by gaps in the high-velocity slab along the inland projection of the Juan-Fernandez-Ridge. A high-velocity anomaly in the upper mantle below the flat slab is interpreted as a relic Nazca slab segment, which indicates an earlier slab break-off during the flattening process, triggered by the buoyancy of the Juan-Fernandez-Ridge. In Payenia, large-scale low-velocity anomalies atop and below the re-steepened Nazca slab are associated with the re-opening of the mantle wedge and sub-slab asthenospheric flow, respectively.

The deep crustal deformation in the east Pamir in response to Cenozoic collision with the Tien Shan and Tarim Basin is so far poorly constrained. We present new insights into the crustal structure of the east Pamir and the surrounding regions using P receiver functions from 40 temporary and permanent seismic stations. The crustal thickness reaches a maximum of 88 km beneath the central and southern east Pamir and decreases sharply to 50-60 km along the southern Tien Shan and to 41-50 km below Tarim Basin. The most prominent crustal structures involve a double Moho and two Moho offsets, which suggest that the crustal deformation in the east Pamir is controlled by multiple mechanisms, including delamination of Asian lower crust below the central east Pamir, pure shear shortening along the northeastern margin between the Pamir and Tarim/Tien Shan and eastward underthrusting of Pamir lower crust beneath the southern east Pamir.

We present a new seismic tomography model for the crust and upper-mantle beneath the Central Andes based on multi-scale full seismic waveform inversion, proceeding from long periods (40–80~s) over several steps down to 12–60~s. The spatial resolution and trade-offs among inversion parameters are estimated through the multi-parameter point-spread functions. P and S wave velocity structures with a spatial resolution of 30–40 km for the upper mantle and 20 km for the crust could be resolved in the central study region. In our study, the subducting Nazca slab is clearly imaged in the upper mantle, with dip-angle variations from the north to the south. Bands of low velocities in the crust and mantle wedge indicate intense crustal partial melting and hydration of the mantle wedge beneath the frontal volcanic arc, respectively and they are linked to the vigorous dehydration from the subducting Nazca plate and intermediate depth seismicity within the slab. These low velocity bands are interrupted at 19.8º–21°S, both in the crust and uppermost mantle, hinting at the lower extent of crustal partial melting and hydration of the mantle wedge. The variation of lithospheic high velocity anomalies below the backarc from North to South allows insight into the evolutionary foundering stages of the Central Andean margin. A high velocity layer beneath the southern Altiplano suggests underthrusting of the leading edge of the Brazilian Shield. In contrast, a steeply westward dipping high velocity block and low velocity lithospheric uppermost mantle beneath the southern Puna plateau hints at the ongoing lithospheric delamination.