Miocene exhumation revealed by detrital minerals of Tajik rivers: Implications for the tectonic evolution of the Pamir

The highest mountains on Earth are located in areas of continent-continent collision, such as the Himalaya, the Alps, and the Pamir of central Asia. Collision-related shortening and crustal thickening are undoubtedly some of the most important processes controlling exhumation in these orogenic systems. Exhumation is recorded by thermochronologic ages in the hinterland and in syn-tectonic detritus shed into adjacent foreland basins. Cenozoic India-Asia collision in the Himalaya has resulted in widespread Eocene-Oligocene exhumation, but it is unclear how the same processes have affected the Pamir Mountains of Central Asia.