The 2015 M7.2 Murghob Earthquake and Pamir Seismicity

On 7 December 2015 at 07:50 UTC, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck 104 km west of Murghob, Tajikistan, at a focal depth of 22 km. This event remains the sole M7+ earthquake recorded in the region since 1 January 2000. The epicentral area lies within the Pamir Mountains of eastern Tajikistan, a high-elevation plateau formed by the continued northward convergence of the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate. Convergence rates of 20–25 mm per year are accommodated along a series of thrust and strike-slip faults that bound the Pamir orocline. The 22 km depth places the rupture within the brittle upper crust, consistent with the predominantly reverse and oblique-slip mechanisms observed across the western Pamir seismic zone. Geologically, the region comprises Paleozoic to Mesozoic sedimentary and metamorphic rocks intruded by Cenozoic granites, all intensely deformed by the India–Eurasia collision that began approximately 50 million years ago. Active faulting is concentrated along the Darvaz–Karakul and Tanymas fault systems, which accommodate both north-directed shortening and lateral extrusion of the Pamir crust. Historical seismicity includes several M6+ events in the twentieth century, although none reached M7.0 between 2000 and the 2015 mainshock. Ground shaking from the 2015 earthquake was felt across much of Tajikistan and into neighboring Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan. Because of the remote, high-altitude setting and low population density near the epicenter, reported damage and casualties remained limited. The event provided valuable data on the deep structure of the Pamir crust and helped refine seismic hazard models for the western Tian Shan–Pamir junction. Ongoing GPS and InSAR monitoring continue to document post-seismic deformation, confirming that strain accumulation along adjacent fault segments remains high. The 2015 rupture therefore serves as a key reference for understanding how the Pamir orogen releases elastic strain accumulated over decades of plate convergence.

References

USGS Earthquake Catalog (event page for 2015-12-07 M7.2 Tajikistan)
Global CMT catalog (moment-tensor solution)
USGS Earthquake Hazards Program regional tectonic summaries for Central Asia