The Cenozoic deformation history of Central Iran has been dominantly accommodated by the activation of major intracontinental strike‐slip fault zones, developed in the hinterland domain of the Arabia‐Eurasia convergent margin. Few quantitative temporal and kinematic constraints are available from these strike‐slip deformation zones, hampering a full assessment of the style and timing of intraplate deformation in Iran and the understanding of the possible linkage to the tectonic reorganization of the Zagros collisional zone. This study focuses on the region to the north of the active trace of the sinistral Doruneh Fault. By combing structural and low‐temperature apatite fission track (AFT) and (U‐Th)/He (AHe) thermochronology investigations, we provide new kinematic and temporal constraints to the deformation history of Central Iran. Our results document a post‐Eocene polyphase tectonic evolution dominated by dextral strike‐slip tectonics, whose activity is constrained since the early Miocene in response to an early, NW‐SE oriented paleo‐σ1 direction. A major phase of enhanced cooling/exhumation is constrained at the Miocene/Pliocene boundary, caused by a switch of the maximum paleo‐σ1 direction to N‐S. When integrated into the regional scenario, these data are framed into a new tectonic reconstruction for the Miocene‐Quaternary time lapse, where strike‐slip deformation in the intracontinental domain of Central Iran is interpreted as guided by the reorganization of the Zagros collisional zone in the transition from an immature to a mature stage of continental collision.

A better understanding of intraplate deformation requires the knowledge of the space–time scales involved in its development and to decipher possible links with the dynamic evolution of the plate boundaries. Central Iran provides an ideal test site to approach this scientific issue, since it is characterised by a prolonged history of Mesozoic–Cenozoic intraplate deformation that has been interfering with the spatio‐temporal re‐organization of the Zagros convergence zone along the Eurasia plate boundary. This study focus on the Doruneh Fault (DF) region that is considered as the northern mechanical boundary of the Central East Iranian Microcontinent. By combining field investigations with apatite low‐temperature thermochronology, we present a revised tectono‐stratigraphic scenario for the DF region, typified by a punctuated history of fault‐related exhumation, burial and cooling history back to the Upper Cretaceous. When framed at regional scale, these results attest that the Zagros convergence zone, and its hinterland domain were fully mechanically coupled since ca. 40–35 Ma, a time lapse that is here referred as to the onset of continental collision along the Arabia–Eurasia plate boundary. In this scenario, the DF region operated throughout the Cenozoic as a major zone of residual stress accommodation and transfer in the hinterland domain of the Zagros convergence zone. Results of this study also suggest that the tectonic evolution along the Arabia–Eurasia plate boundary was modulated by the plate‐boundary dynamics and by the modes of tectonic reactivation of the intracontinental weak zones of Central Iran and at its tectonic boundaries.

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