Greater Caucasus

I am seeking motivated graduate students who are interested in field geology, tectonics, and thermochronology for Fall 2022 for a project in the Greater Caucasus. E-mail me to learn more.

Girdman Caj River gorge near the town of Lahij, in the eastern Greater Caucasus, Azerbaijan.


Alex Tye (PhD 2019) descending a trail on Babadağ peak, eastern Greater Caucasus, Azerbaijan.


Aerial view west along the glaciated spine of the high Greater Caucasus, with the stratovolcano Mt. Elbrus snow-capped in the background.

The Greater Caucasus Mountains contain the highest peaks in Europe, but have been generally understudied in recent years, in part due to rugged topography, and in part due to geopolitical challenges. Over the past decade, however, GPS studies throughout the Arabia-Eurasia collision zone by Rob Reilinger and colleagues, along with seismic campaigns by Eric Sandvol and collegaues have raised new questions about the tectonic development of this mountain range. The western Caucasus, which contain the highest peaks in the range, as well as significant exposures of Paleozoic and Precambrian metamorphic and igneous rocks, appear not to be shortening in the modern geodetic strain field, and have both low rates of seismicity, and a lack of deep earthquakes. The eastern Caucasus, which are significantly lower in mean and peak elevations, and which are still comprised of Mesozoic sedimentary strata, are shortening at rates up to 15 mm/yr, and are quite active seismically, and underlain by a north-dipping swath of earthquakes to depths of >100 km.

This apparent dichotomy between long term finite strain and present day strain rate can potentially be ascribed to an along-strike transition from the active subduction of oceanic or transitional crust beneath the eastern Greater Caucasus to ongoing continental collision within the western part of the range. As such, the Greater Caucasus provide one of the few, if not the only, orogenic belts where geologic mapping, thermochronology, and structural analysis can be undertaken subaerially along the transition from accretionary prism and subduction zone to collisional foreland basin and suture belt.

The National Science Foundation has recently funded a three-year study of the transition zone from active subduction to continental collision in the Greater Caucasus in eastern Georgia and western Azerbaijan. This is a collaborative research project between the University of California, Davis and the University of Michigan. Eric Cowgill and PhD student Dylan Vasey at UC Davis will participate from UC Davis, while a Michigan PhD student will work with me. Geologic and structural mapping, low-temperature thermochronology, and detrital zircon provenance studies will be undertake as part of this study. We will work with partners at Ilia State University in Georgia and the Geological Institute of Azerbaijan.

Select Publications

  • Trexler, C. C., E. Cowgill, N. A. Niemi, D. A. Vasey, T. Godoladze, in press, Tectonostratigraphy and major structures of the Georgian Greater Caucasus: Implications for structural architecture, along-strike continuity, and orogen evolution, Geosphere.

  • Tye, A., N. A. Niemi, R. Safarov, F. Kadirov, G. Babayev, 2020, Sedimentary response to collisional orogeny recorded in detrital zircon provenance of Greater Caucasus foreland basin sediments, Basin Research, doi:10.1111/bre.12499. Link to article

  • Vasey, D., E. S. Cowgill, S. Roeske, N. A. Niemi, T. Godoladze, I. Skhirtladze, S. Gogoladze, 2020, Evolution of the Greater Caucasus basement and formation of the Main Caucasus Thrust, Georgia, Tectonics, v. 38, doi:10.1029/2019TC005828. Link to article

  • Cowgill, E., N. Niemi, A. Forte, C. Trexler, 2018, Reply to comment by Vincent et al., Tectonics, v. 37, p. 1017-1028, doi:10.1002/2017TC004793. Link to article OA

  • Cowgill, E. S., A. M. Forte, N. A. Niemi, B. Avdeev, A. Tye, C. C. Trexler, Z. Javakishvirli, M. Elashvili, T. Godoladze, 2016, Relict basin closure and crustal shortening budgets during continental collision: An example from Caucasus sediment provenance, Tectonics, v. 35, 2918-2947, doi:10.1002/2016TC004295. Link to article OA

  • Mumladze, T., A. M. Forte, E. Cowgill, C. C. Trexler, N. A. Niemi, M. B. Yıkılmaz, and L. H. Kellogg, 2015, Subducted, detached and torn slabs beneath the Greater Caucasus, GeoResJ, v. 5, p. 36-46, doi:10.1016/j.grj.2014.09.004. Link to article OA

  • Avdeev, B.and N. A. Niemi, 2011, Rapid Pliocene exhumation of the central Greater Caucasus constrained by low-temperature thermochronometry, Tectonics, v. 30, TC2009, doi:10.1029/2010TC002808. Link to article OA