Quaternary tectonics of the Pamir-Tian Shan collision zone

The Pamir and Tian Shan are some of the fastest deforming mountain ranges on the planet and where they collide, over 10 mm/y (10 kilometers per million year) of shortening are accommodated across a zone a few tens of kilometers wide. This collision formed a number of very active faults and folds that  yield insights into the dynamics of how continental interiors deform. With a number of collaborators we studied the rates and patterns of deformation in the eastern Pamir-Tian Shan collision zone. To investigate how deformation rates change through time, we combined satellite geodetic techniques (InSAR) and different geochronometers that can measure deformation across timescales of tens of thousands to millions of years.