the zagros ftb is formed along a section of the plate boundary that is subject to oblique convergence with the arabian plate moving northwards with respect to the eurasian plate at about 3 cm per year. the degree of obliqueness reduces southwards along the zagros, with the collision becoming near orthogonal within the fars domain. the relative movement between the plates is only partly taken up within the zagros, the remainder is taken up by deformation in the alborz mountains and the lesser caucasus mountains to the north of the iranian plateau and along the zone formed by the greater caucasus mountains, the apsheron-balkan sill and the kopet dag mountains further north again.