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In den letzten drei Jahrzehnten wurden in einigen Seen und Feuchtgebieten in bewaldeten Einzugsgebieten Nordost-Brandenburgs sinkende Wasserstände beobachtet. In diesen Gebieten bestimmt die Grundwasserneubildung im Einzugsgebiet maßgeblich das Wasserdargebot der Seen und Feuchtgebiete, die deshalb hier als grundwasserabhängige Landschaftselemente bezeichnet werden. Somit weisen die sinkenden Wasserstände auf einen Rückgang der wegen des geringen Niederschlagsdargebotes ohnehin schon geringen Grundwasserneubildung hin. Die Höhe der Grundwasserneubildung ist neben den hydroklimatischen Randbedingungen auch von der Landnutzung abhängig. Veränderungen in der Waldvegetation und der hydroklimatischen Randbedingungen bewirken Änderungen der Grundwasserneubildung und beeinflussen somit auch den Wasserhaushalt der Seen und Feuchtgebiete. Aktuell wird die Waldvegetation durch Kiefernmonokulturen dominiert, mit im Vergleich zu anderen Baumarten höherer Evapotranspiration. Entwicklungen in der Forstwirtschaft streben die Verringerung von Kiefernmonokulturen an. Diese sollen langfristig auf geeigneten Standorten durch Laubmischwälder ersetzt werden. Dadurch lassen sich eine geringere Evapotranspiration und damit eine höhere Grundwasserneubildung erreichen. In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden am Beispiel des Redernswalder Sees und des Briesensees die Ursachen der beobachteten sinkenden Wasserstände analysiert. Ihre Wasserstände nahmen in den letzten 25 Jahren um mehr als 3 Meter ab. Weiterhin wird untersucht, wie die erwarteten Klimaänderungen und Veränderungen in der Waldbewirtschaftung die zukünftige Grundwasserneubildung und den Wasserhaushalt von Seen beeinflussen können. Die Entwicklung der Grundwasserneubildung im Untersuchungsgebiet wurde mit dem Wasserhaushaltsmodell WaSiM-ETH simuliert. Die Analyse der Wechselwirkungen der Seen mit dem regionalen quartären Grundwasserleitersystem erfolgte mit dem 3D-Grundwassermodell FEFLOW. Mögliche zukünftige Veränderungen der Grundwasserneubildung und der Seewasserstände durch Klimaänderungen und Waldumbau wurden mit Szenarienrechnungen bis zum Jahr 2100 analysiert. Die modellgestützte Analyse zeigte, dass die beobachteten abnehmenden Wasserstände zu etwa gleichen Anteilen durch Veränderungen der hydroklimatischen Randbedingungen sowie durch Veränderungen in der Waldvegetation und damit abnehmenden Grundwasserneubildungsraten zu erklären sind. Die zukünftigen Entwicklungen der Grundwasserneubildung und der Wasserstände sind geprägt von sich ändernden hydroklimatischen Randbedingungen und einem sukzessiven Wandel der Kiefernbestände zu Laubwäldern. Der Waldumbau hat positive Wirkungen auf die Grundwasserneubildung und damit auf die Wasserstände. Damit können die Einflüsse des eingesetzten REMO-A1B-Klimaszenarios zum Ende des Modellzeitraumes durch den Waldumbau nicht kompensiert werden, das Sinken des Wasserstandes wird jedoch wesentlich reduziert. Bei dem moderateren REMO-B1-Klimaszenario werden die Wasserstände des Jahres 2008 durch den Waldumbau bis zum Jahr 2100 überschritten.
Based on technological advances made within the past decades, ground-penetrating radar (GPR) has become a well-established, non-destructive subsurface imaging technique. Catalyzed by recent demands for high-resolution, near-surface imaging (e.g., the detection of unexploded ordnances and subsurface utilities, or hydrological investigations), the quality of today's GPR-based, near-surface images has significantly matured. At the same time, the analysis of oil and gas related reflection seismic data sets has experienced significant advances. Considering the sensitivity of attribute analysis with respect to data positioning in general, and multi-trace attributes in particular, trace positioning accuracy is of major importance for the success of attribute-based analysis flows. Therefore, to study the feasibility of GPR-based attribute analyses, I first developed and evaluated a real-time GPR surveying setup based on a modern tracking total station (TTS). The combination of current GPR systems capability of fusing global positioning system (GPS) and geophysical data in real-time, the ability of modern TTS systems to generate a GPS-like positional output and wireless data transmission using radio modems results in a flexible and robust surveying setup. To elaborate the feasibility of this setup, I studied the major limitations of such an approach: system cross-talk and data delays known as latencies. Experimental studies have shown that when a minimal distance of ~5 m between the GPR and the TTS system is considered, the signal-to-noise ratio of the acquired GPR data using radio communication equals the one without radio communication. To address the limitations imposed by system latencies, inherent to all real-time data fusion approaches, I developed a novel correction (calibration) strategy to assess the gross system latency and to correct for it. This resulted in the centimeter trace accuracy required by high-frequency and/or three-dimensional (3D) GPR surveys. Having introduced this flexible high-precision surveying setup, I successfully demonstrated the application of attribute-based processing to GPR specific problems, which may differ significantly from the geological ones typically addressed by the oil and gas industry using seismic data. In this thesis, I concentrated on archaeological and subsurface utility problems, as they represent typical near-surface geophysical targets. Enhancing 3D archaeological GPR data sets using a dip-steered filtering approach, followed by calculation of coherency and similarity, allowed me to conduct subsurface interpretations far beyond those obtained by classical time-slice analyses. I could show that the incorporation of additional data sets (magnetic and topographic) and attributes derived from these data sets can further improve the interpretation. In a case study, such an approach revealed the complementary nature of the individual data sets and, for example, allowed conclusions about the source location of magnetic anomalies by concurrently analyzing GPR time/depth slices to be made. In addition to archaeological targets, subsurface utility detection and characterization is a steadily growing field of application for GPR. I developed a novel attribute called depolarization. Incorporation of geometrical and physical feature characteristics into the depolarization attribute allowed me to display the observed polarization phenomena efficiently. Geometrical enhancement makes use of an improved symmetry extraction algorithm based on Laplacian high-boosting, followed by a phase-based symmetry calculation using a two-dimensional (2D) log-Gabor filterbank decomposition of the data volume. To extract the physical information from the dual-component data set, I employed a sliding-window principle component analysis. The combination of the geometrically derived feature angle and the physically derived polarization angle allowed me to enhance the polarization characteristics of subsurface features. Ground-truth information obtained by excavations confirmed this interpretation. In the future, inclusion of cross-polarized antennae configurations into the processing scheme may further improve the quality of the depolarization attribute. In addition to polarization phenomena, the time-dependent frequency evolution of GPR signals might hold further information on the subsurface architecture and/or material properties. High-resolution, sparsity promoting decomposition approaches have recently had a significant impact on the image and signal processing community. In this thesis, I introduced a modified tree-based matching pursuit approach. Based on different synthetic examples, I showed that the modified tree-based pursuit approach clearly outperforms other commonly used time-frequency decomposition approaches with respect to both time and frequency resolutions. Apart from the investigation of tuning effects in GPR data, I also demonstrated the potential of high-resolution sparse decompositions for advanced data processing. Frequency modulation of individual atoms themselves allows to efficiently correct frequency attenuation effects and improve resolution based on shifting the average frequency level. GPR-based attribute analysis is still in its infancy. Considering the growing widespread realization of 3D GPR studies there will certainly be an increasing demand towards improved subsurface interpretations in the future. Similar to the assessment of quantitative reservoir properties through the combination of 3D seismic attribute volumes with sparse well-log information, parameter estimation in a combined manner represents another step in emphasizing the potential of attribute-driven GPR data analyses.
Earthquake faults interact with each other in many different ways and hence earthquakes cannot be treated as individual independent events. Although earthquake interactions generally lead to a complex evolution of the crustal stress field, it does not necessarily mean that the earthquake occurrence becomes random and completely unpredictable. In particular, the interplay between earthquakes can rather explain the occurrence of pronounced characteristics such as periods of accelerated and depressed seismicity (seismic quiescence) as well as spatiotemporal earthquake clustering (swarms and aftershock sequences). Ignoring the time-dependence of the process by looking at time-averaged values – as largely done in standard procedures of seismic hazard assessment – can thus lead to erroneous estimations not only of the activity level of future earthquakes but also of their spatial distribution. Therefore, it exists an urgent need for applicable time-dependent models. In my work, I aimed at better understanding and characterization of the earthquake interactions in order to improve seismic hazard estimations. For this purpose, I studied seismicity patterns on spatial scales ranging from hydraulic fracture experiments (meter to kilometer) to fault system size (hundreds of kilometers), while the temporal scale of interest varied from the immediate aftershock activity (minutes to months) to seismic cycles (tens to thousands of years). My studies revealed a number of new characteristics of fluid-induced and stress-triggered earthquake clustering as well as precursory phenomena in earthquake cycles. Data analysis of earthquake and deformation data were accompanied by statistical and physics-based model simulations which allow a better understanding of the role of structural heterogeneities, stress changes, afterslip and fluid flow. Finally, new strategies and methods have been developed and tested which help to improve seismic hazard estimations by taking the time-dependence of the earthquake process appropriately into account.
In the high mountains of Asia, glaciers cover an area of approximately 115,000 km² and constitute one of the largest continental ice accumulations outside Greenland and Antarctica. Their sensitivity to climate change makes them valuable palaeoclimate archives, but also vulnerable to current and predicted Global Warming. This is a pressing problem as snow and glacial melt waters are important sources for agriculture and power supply of densely populated regions in south, east, and central Asia. Successful prediction of the glacial response to climate change in Asia and mitigation of the socioeconomic impacts requires profound knowledge of the climatic controls and the dynamics of Asian glaciers. However, due to their remoteness and difficult accessibility, ground-based studies are rare, as well as temporally and spatially limited. We therefore lack basic information on the vast majority of these glaciers. In this thesis, I employ different methods to assess the dynamics of Asian glaciers on multiple time scales. First, I tested a method for precise satellite-based measurement of glacier-surface velocities and conducted a comprehensive and regional survey of glacial flow and terminus dynamics of Asian glaciers between 2000 and 2008. This novel and unprecedented dataset provides unique insights into the contrasting topographic and climatic controls of glacial flow velocities across the Asian highlands. The data document disparate recent glacial behavior between the Karakoram and the Himalaya, which I attribute to the competing influence of the mid-latitude westerlies during winter and the Indian monsoon during summer. Second, I tested whether such climate-related longitudinal differences in glacial behavior also prevail on longer time scales, and potentially account for observed regionally asynchronous glacial advances. I used cosmogenic nuclide surface exposure dating of erratic boulders on moraines to obtain a glacial chronology for the upper Tons Valley, situated in the headwaters of the Ganges River. This area is located in the transition zone from monsoonal to westerly moisture supply and therefore ideal to examine the influence of these two atmospheric circulation regimes on glacial advances. The new glacial chronology documents multiple glacial oscillations during the last glacial termination and during the Holocene, suggesting largely synchronous glacial changes in the western Himalayan region that are related to gradual glacial-interglacial temperature oscillations with superimposed monsoonal precipitation changes of higher frequency. In a third step, I combine results from short-term satellite-based climate records and surface velocity-derived ice-flux estimates, with topographic analyses to deduce the erosional impact of glaciations on long-term landscape evolution in the Himalayan-Tibetan realm. The results provide evidence for the long-term effects of pronounced east-west differences in glaciation and glacial erosion, depending on climatic and topographic factors. Contrary to common belief the data suggest that monsoonal climate in the central Himalaya weakens glacial erosion at high elevations, helping to maintain a steep southern orographic barrier that protects the Tibetan Plateau from lateral destruction. The results of this thesis highlight how climatic and topographic gradients across the high mountains of Asia affect glacier dynamics on time scales ranging from 10^0 to 10^6 years. Glacial response times to climate changes are tightly linked to properties such as debris cover and surface slope, which are controlled by the topographic setting, and which need to be taken into account when reconstructing mountainous palaeoclimate from glacial histories or assessing the future evolution of Asian glaciers. Conversely, the regional topographic differences of glacial landscapes in Asia are partly controlled by climatic gradients and the long-term influence of glaciers on the topographic evolution of the orogenic system.
Flood design necessitates discharge estimates for large recurrence intervals. However, in a flood frequency analysis, the uncertainty of discharge estimates increases with higher recurrence intervals, particularly due to the small number of available flood data. Furthermore, traditional distribution functions increase unlimitedly without consideration of an upper bound discharge. Hence, additional information needs to be considered which is representative for high recurrence intervals. Envelope curves which bound the maximum observed discharges of a region are an adequate regionalisation method to provide additional spatial information for the upper tail of a distribution function. Probabilistic regional envelope curves (PRECs) are an extension of the traditional empirical envelope curve approach, in which a recurrence interval is estimated for a regional envelope curve (REC). The REC is constructed for a homogeneous pooling group of sites. The estimation of this recurrence interval is based on the effective sample years of data considering the intersite dependence among all sites of the pooling group. The core idea of this thesis was an improvement of discharge estimates for high recurrence intervals by integrating empirical and probabilistic regional envelope curves into the flood frequency analysis. Therefore, the method of probabilistic regional envelope curves was investigated in detail. Several pooling groups were derived by modifying candidate sets of catchment descriptors and settings of two different pooling methods. These were used to construct PRECs. A sensitivity analysis shows the variability of discharges and the recurrence intervals for a given site due to the different assumptions. The unit flood of record which governs the intercept of PREC was determined as the most influential aspect. By separating the catchments into nested and unnested pairs, the calculation algorithm for the effective sample years of data was refined. In this way, the estimation of the recurrence intervals was improved, and therefore the use of different parameter sets for nested and unnested pairs of catchments is recommended. In the second part of this thesis, PRECs were introduced into a distribution function. Whereas in the traditional approach only discharge values are used, PRECs provide a discharge and its corresponding recurrence interval. Hence, a novel approach was developed, which allows a combination of the PREC results with the traditional systematic flood series while taking the PREC recurrence interval into consideration. An adequate mixed bounded distribution function was presented, which in addition to the PREC results also uses an upper bound discharge derived by an empirical envelope curve. By doing so, two types of additional information which are representative for the upper tail of a distribution function were included in the flood frequency analysis. The integration of both types of additional information leads to an improved discharge estimation for recurrence intervals between 100 and 1000 years.
Large-scale volcanic deformation recently detected by radar interferometry (InSAR) provides new information and thus new scientific challenges for understanding volcano-tectonic activity and magmatic systems. The destabilization of such a system at depth noticeably affects the surrounding environment through magma injection, ground displacement and volcanic eruptions. To determine the spatiotemporal evolution of the Lazufre volcanic area located in the central Andes, we combined short-term ground displacement acquired by InSAR with long-term geological observations. Ground displacement was first detected using InSAR in 1997. By 2008, this displacement affected 1800 km2 of the surface, an area comparable in size to the deformation observed at caldera systems. The original displacement was followed in 2000 by a second, small-scale, neighbouring deformation located on the Lastarria volcano. We performed a detailed analysis of the volcanic structures at Lazufre and found relationships with the volcano deformations observed with InSAR. We infer that these observations are both likely to be the surface expression of a long-lived magmatic system evolving at depth. It is not yet clear whether Lazufre may trigger larger unrest or volcanic eruptions; however, the second deformation detected at Lastarria and the clear increase of the large-scale deformation rate make this an area of particular interest for closer continuous monitoring.
Das Parallel-Seismik-Verfahren dient vor allem der nachträglichen Längenmessung von Fundamentpfählen oder ähnlichen Elementen zur Gründung von Bauwerken. Eine solche Messung wird beispielsweise notwendig, wenn ein Gebäude verstärkt, erhöht oder anders als bisher genutzt werden soll, aber keine Unterlagen mehr über die Fundamente vorhanden sind. Das Messprinzip des schon seit einigen Jahrzehnten bekannten Verfahrens ist relativ einfach: Auf dem Pfahlkopf wird meist durch Hammerschlag eine Stoßwelle erzeugt, die durch den Pfahl nach unten läuft. Dabei wird Energie in den Boden abgegeben. Die abgestrahlten Wellen werden von Sensoren in einem parallel zum Pfahl hergestellten Bohrloch registriert. Aus den Laufzeiten lassen sich die materialspezifischen Wellengeschwindigkeiten im Pfahl und im Boden sowie die Pfahllänge ermitteln. Bisher wurde meist ein sehr einfaches Verfahren zur Datenauswertung verwendet, das die Länge der Pfähle systematisch überschätzt. In der vorliegenden Dissertation wurden die mathematisch-physikalischen Grundlagen beleuchtet und durch Computersimulation die Wellenausbreitung in Pfahl und Boden genau untersucht. Weitere Simulationen klärten den Einfluss verschiedener Mess- und Strukturparameter, beispielsweise den Einfluss von Bodenschichtung oder Fehlstellen im Pfahl. So konnte geklärt werden, in welchen Fällen mit dem Parallel-Seismik-Verfahren gute Ergebnisse erzielt werden können (z. B. bei Fundamenten in Sand oder Ton) und wo es an seine Grenzen stößt (z. B. bei Gründung im Fels). Auf Basis dieser Ergebnisse entstand ein neuer mathematischer Formalismus zur Auswertung der Laufzeiten. In Verbindung mit einem Verfahren zur Dateninversion, d. h. der automatischen Anpassung der Unbekannten in den Gleichungen an die Messergebnisse, lassen sich sehr viel genauere Werte für die Pfahllänge ermitteln als mit allen bisher publizierten Verfahren. Zudem kann man nun auch mit relativ großen Abständen zwischen Bohrloch und Pfahl (2 - 3 m) arbeiten. Die Methode wurde an simulierten Daten ausführlich getestet. Die Messmethode und das neue Auswerteverfahren wurden in einer Reihe praktischer Anwendungen getestet – und dies fast immer erfolgreich. Nur in einem Fall komplizierter Fundamentgeometrie bei gleichzeitig sehr hoher Anforderung an die Genauigkeit war schon nach Simulationen klar, dass hier ein Einsatz nicht sinnvoll ist. Dafür zeigte es sich, dass auch die Länge von Pfahlwänden und Spundwänden ermittelt werden kann. Die Parallel-Seismik-Methode funktioniert als einziges verfügbares Verfahren zur Fundamentlängenermittlung zugleich in den meisten Bodenarten sowie an metallischen und nichtmetallischen Fundamenten und kommt ohne Kalibrierung aus. Sie ist nun sehr viel breiter einsetzbar und liefert sehr viel genauere Ergebnisse. Die Simulationen zeigten noch Potential für Erweiterungen, zum Beispiel durch den Einsatz spezieller Sensoren, die zusätzliche Wellentypen empfangen und unterscheiden können.
Temporal gravimeter observations, used in geodesy and geophysics to study variation of the Earth’s gravity field, are influenced by local water storage changes (WSC) and – from this perspective – add noise to the gravimeter signal records. At the same time, the part of the gravity signal caused by WSC may provide substantial information for hydrologists. Water storages are the fundamental state variable of hydrological systems, but comprehensive data on total WSC are practically inaccessible and their quantification is associated with a high level of uncertainty at the field scale. This study investigates the relationship between temporal gravity measurements and WSC in order to reduce the hydrological interfering signal from temporal gravity measurements and to explore the value of temporal gravity measurements for hydrology for the superconducting gravimeter (SG) of the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell, Germany. A 4D forward model with a spatially nested discretization domain was developed to simulate and calculate the local hydrological effect on the temporal gravity observations. An intensive measurement system was installed at the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell and WSC were measured in all relevant storage components, namely groundwater, saprolite, soil, top soil and snow storage. The monitoring system comprised also a suction-controlled, weighable, monolith-filled lysimeter, allowing an all time first comparison of a lysimeter and a gravimeter. Lysimeter data were used to estimate WSC at the field scale in combination with complementary observations and a hydrological 1D model. Total local WSC were derived, uncertainties were assessed and the hydrological gravity response was calculated from the WSC. A simple conceptual hydrological model was calibrated and evaluated against records of a superconducting gravimeter, soil moisture and groundwater time series. The model was evaluated by a split sample test and validated against independently estimated WSC from the lysimeter-based approach. A simulation of the hydrological gravity effect showed that WSC of one meter height along the topography caused a gravity response of 52 µGal, whereas, generally in geodesy, on flat terrain, the same water mass variation causes a gravity change of only 42 µGal (Bouguer approximation). The radius of influence of local water storage variations can be limited to 1000 m and 50 % to 80 % of the local hydro¬logical gravity signal is generated within a radius of 50 m around the gravimeter. At the Geodetic Observatory Wettzell, WSC in the snow pack, top soil, unsaturated saprolite and fractured aquifer are all important terms of the local water budget. With the exception of snow, all storage components have gravity responses of the same order of magnitude and are therefore relevant for gravity observations. The comparison of the total hydrological gravity response to the gravity residuals obtained from the SG, showed similarities in both short-term and seasonal dynamics. However, the results demonstrated the limitations of estimating total local WSC using hydrological point measurements. The results of the lysimeter-based approach showed that gravity residuals are caused to a larger extent by local WSC than previously estimated. A comparison of the results with other methods used in the past to correct temporal gravity observations for the local hydrological influence showed that the lysimeter measurements improved the independent estimation of WSC significantly and thus provided a better way of estimating the local hydrological gravity effect. In the context of hydrological noise reduction, at sites where temporal gravity observations are used for geophysical studies beyond local hydrology, the installation of a lysimeter in combination with complementary hydrological measurements is recommended. From the hydrological view point, using gravimeter data as a calibration constraint improved the model results in comparison to hydrological point measurements. Thanks to their capacity to integrate over different storage components and a larger area, gravimeters provide generalized information on total WSC at the field scale. Due to their integrative nature, gravity data must be interpreted with great care in hydrological studies. However, gravimeters can serve as a novel measurement instrument for hydrology and the application of gravimeters especially designed to study open research questions in hydrology is recommended.
With the increasing availability of observational data from different sources at a global level, joint analysis of these data is becoming especially attractive. For such an analysis – oftentimes with little prior knowledge about local and global interactions between the different observational variables at hand – an exploratory, data-driven analysis of the data may be of particular relevance. In the present work we used generalized additive models (GAM) in an exemplary study of spatio-temporal patterns in the tropospheric NO2-distribution derived from GOME satellite observations (1996 to 2001) at global scale. We focused on identifying correlations between NO2 and local wind fields, a quantity which is of particular interest in the analysis of spatio-temporal interactions. Formulating general functional, parametric relationships between the observed NO2 distribution and local wind fields, however, is difficult – if not impossible. So, rather than following a modelbased analysis testing the data for predefined hypotheses (assuming, for example, sinusoidal seasonal trends), we used a GAM with non-parametric model terms to learn this functional relationship between NO2 and wind directly from the data. The NO2 observations showed to be affected by winddominated processes over large areas. We estimated the extent of areas affected by specific NO2 emission sources, and were able to highlight likely atmospheric transport “pathways”. General temporal trends which were also part of our model – weekly, seasonal and linear changes – showed to be in good agreement with previous studies and alternative ways of analysing the time series. Overall, using a non-parametric model provided favorable means for a rapid inspection of this large spatio-temporal NO2 data set, with less bias than parametric approaches, and allowing to visualize dynamical processes of the NO2 distribution at a global scale.
In 1915, Alfred Wegener published his hypotheses of plate tectonics that revolutionised the world for geologists. Since then, many scientists have studied the evolution of continents and especially the geologic structure of orogens: the most visible consequence of tectonic processes. Although the morphology and landscape evolution of mountain belts can be observed due to surface processes, the driving force and dynamics at lithosphere scale are less well understood despite the fact that rocks from deeper levels of orogenic belts are in places exposed at the surface. In this thesis, such formerly deeply-buried (ultra-) high-pressure rocks, in particular eclogite facies series, have been studied in order to reveal details about the formation and exhumation conditions and rates and thus provide insights into the geodynamics of the most spectacular orogenic belt in the world: the Himalaya. The specific area investigated was the Kaghan Valley in Pakistan (NW Himalaya). Following closure of the Tethyan Ocean by ca. 55-50 Ma, the northward subduction of the leading edge of India beneath the Eurasian Plate and subsequent collision initiated a long-lived process of intracrustal thrusting that continues today. The continental crust of India – granitic basement, Paleozoic and Mesozoic cover series and Permo-Triassic dykes, sills and lavas – has been buried partly to mantle depths. Today, these rocks crop out as eclogites, amphibolites and gneisses within the Higher Himalayan Crystalline between low-grade metamorphosed rocks (600-640°C/ ca. 5 kbar) of the Lesser Himalaya and Tethyan sediments. Beside tectonically driven exhumation mechanisms the channel flow model, that describes a denudation focused ductile extrusion of low viscosity material developed in the middle to lower crust beneath the Tibetan Plateau, has been postulated. To get insights into the lithospheric and crustal processes that have initiated and driven the exhumation of this (ultra-) high-pressure rocks, mineralogical, petrological and isotope-geochemical investigations have been performed. They provide insights into 1) the depths and temperatures to which these rocks were buried, 2) the pressures and temperatures the rocks have experienced during their exhumation, 3) the timing of these processes 4) and the velocity with which these rocks have been brought back to the surface. In detail, through microscopical studies, the identification of key minerals, microprobe analyses, standard geothermobarometry and modelling using an effective bulk rock composition it has been shown that published exhumation paths are incomplete. In particular, the eclogites of the northern Kaghan Valley were buried to depths of 140-100 km (36-30 kbar) at 790-640°C. Subsequently, cooling during decompression (exhumation) towards 40-35 km (17-10 kbar) and 630-580°C has been superseded by a phase of reheating to about 720-650°C at roughly the same depth before final exhumation has taken place. In the southern-most part of the study area, amphibolite facies assemblages with formation conditions similar to the deduced reheating phase indicate a juxtaposition of both areas after the eclogite facies stage and thus a stacking of Indian Plate units. Radiometric dating of zircon, titanite and rutile by U-Pb and amphibole and micas by Ar-Ar reveal peak pressure conditions at 47-48 Ma. With a maximum exhumation rate of 14 cm/a these rocks reached the crust-mantle boundary at 40-35 km within 1 Ma. Subsequent exhumation (46-41 Ma, 40-35 km) decelerated to ca. 1 mm/a at the base of the continental crust but rose again to about 2 mm/a in the period of 41-31 Ma, equivalent to 35-20 km. Apatite fission track (AFT) and (U-Th)/He ages from eclogites, amphibolites, micaschists and gneisses yielded moderate Oligocene to Miocene cooling rates of about 10°C/Ma in the high altitude northern parts of the Kaghan Valley using the mineral-pair method. AFT ages are of 24.5±3.8 to 15.6±2.1 Ma whereas apatite (U-Th)/He analyses yielded ages between 21.0±0.6 and 5.3±0.2 Ma. The southern-most part of the Valley is dominated by younger late Miocene to Pliocene apatite fission track ages of 7.6±2.1 and 4.0±0.5 Ma that support earlier tectonically and petrologically findings of a juxtaposition and stack of Indian Plate units. As this nappe is tectonically lowermost, a later distinct exhumation and uplift driven by thrusting along the Main Boundary Thrust is inferred. A multi-stage exhumation path is evident from petrological, isotope-geochemical and low temperature thermochronology investigations. Buoyancy driven exhumation caused an initial rapid exhumation: exhumation as fast as recent normal plate movements (ca. 10 cm/a). As the exhuming units reached the crust-mantle boundary the process slowed down due to changes in buoyancy. Most likely, this exhumation pause has initiated the reheating event that is petrologically evident (e.g. glaucophane rimmed by hornblende, ilmenite overgrowth of rutile). Late stage processes involved widespread thrusting and folding with accompanied regional greenschist facies metamorphism, whereby contemporaneous thrusting on the Batal Thrust (seen by some authors equivalent to the MCT) and back sliding of the Kohistan Arc along the inverse reactivated Main Mantle Thrust caused final exposure of these rocks. Similar circumstances have been seen at Tso Morari, Ladakh, India, 200 km further east where comparable rock assemblages occur. In conclusion, as exhumation was already done well before the initiation of the monsoonal system, climate dependent effects (erosion) appear negligible in comparison to far-field tectonic effects.