Seismically mobilized moraines in the Tien Shan

Moraines studied in the Chon-Kyzylsuu River valley (southeastern Lake Issyk-Kul region, Tien Shan) were mobilized during historic and prehistoric large earthquakes. Seismic triggers of moraine mobilization included the M > 8 Kebin earthquake of 1911 and prehistoric events that produced rockslides, landslides, and multiple fault scarps. Rockslides in the Chon-Kyzylsuu basin are located in the hanging wall of the Terskey border thrust fault. The observed deformation results from at least four prehistoric earthquakes in the second half of the Holocene (early 20th century BC, early 11th century BC, middle 8th century BC, and early 2nd century BC), with local shaking intensity I > 7.