Tension of the Greater Caucasus lithosphere, located in a zone of pseudo-subduction articulation of the northern and southern Caucasus massifs (tectonic microplates), is the result of penetration of the Arabian indenter into the buffer structures of Eurasian during the continental stage of Alpine tectogenesis (since the end of Miocene). This statement is confirmed by geophysical observation data over the structure and seismodynamic activity of the regional Earth’s crust that generally represents an underthrust zone of the southern Caspian microplate’s Kakheti-Vandam-Gobustan margin under the Eurasia’s southern underside (Scythian-Turanian epi-Hercynian platform), accompanied by heaving and southward advancement of the allochthonous accretionary prism built by structural-material complexes of the Greater Caucasus marginal seaside. This factor determines peculiarities of both surface and deep structure of the orogen, reflected in geological mapping, seismic and electrical prospecting activities, as well as gravitational and magnetometric observations in Azerbaijan.  The paper describes the peculiarities of the surface and deep geological structure that defines the modern seismic and geodynamic activity.

 

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