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.

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39Central Iran provides an ideal region to study the long-term morphotectonic response to the 40 nucleation and propagation of intraplate faulting. In this study, a multidisciplinary approach 41 that integrates structural and stratigraphic field investigations with apatite (U+Th)/He (AHe) 42 thermochronometry is used to reconstruct the spatio-temporal evolution of the Kuh-e-Faghan 43 As demonstrated by regional and global stress field maps, in-plane stresses can be 65

Abstract. The Seymareh landslide, detached ∼10 ka from the northeastern flank of the Kabir-kuh fold (Zagros Mts., Iran), is recognized worldwide as the largest rock slope failure (44 Gm3) ever recorded on the exposed Earth surface. Detailed studies have been performed that have described the landslide mechanism and different scenarios have been proposed for explaining the induced landscape changes. The purpose of this study is to provide still missing time constraints on the evolution of the Seymareh River valley, before and after the emplacement of the Seymareh landslide, to highlight the role of geomorphic processes both as predisposing factors and as response to the landslide debris emplacement. We used optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to date lacustrine and fluvial terrace sediments, whose plano-altimetric distribution has been correlated to the detectable knickpoints along the Seymareh River longitudinal profile, allowing the reconstruction of the evolutionary model of the fluvial valley. We infer that the knickpoint migration along the main river and the erosion wave propagation upstream through the whole drainage network caused the stress release and the ultimate failure of the rock mass involved in the landslide. We estimated that the stress release activated a mass rock creep (MRC) process with gravity-driven deformation processes occurring over an elapsed time-to-failure value on the order of 102 kyr. We estimated also that the Seymareh damming lake persisted for ∼3500 years before starting to empty ∼6.6 ka due to lake overflow. A sedimentation rate of 10 mm yr−1 was estimated for the lacustrine deposits, which increased up to 17 mm yr−1 during the early stage of lake emptying due to the increased sediment yield from the lake tributaries. We calculated an erosion rate of 1.8 cm yr−1 since the initiation of dam breaching by the Seymareh River, which propagated through the drainage system up to the landslide source area. The evolutionary model of the Seymareh River valley can provide the necessary constraints for future stress–strain numerical modeling of the landslide slope to reproduce the MRC and demonstrate the possible role of seismic triggering in prematurely terminating the creep-controlled time-to-failure pathway for such an extremely large case study.

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