Detailed SPOT image analysis which completed field data and a microseismicity study was done on the central Caucasian mountain belt (Georgia, Armenia, and eastern Turkey), north of the front of the Arabian collision in order to clarify the relationships between compression, extension, and volcanism. In fact, this region is characterized by relatively complex active tectonics, associating both N-S compressive (E-W thrusts and folds) and E-W extensional (N-S normal faults and dikes) structures accompanied by considerable Neogene to Quaternary volcanism, and NE-SW left-lateral and NW-SE right lateral strike-slip faults. These different structures are all intricately imbricated and can be observed at different scales. The general lay out implies an important variation in the stress state; for instance, this passes from a N-S compression in the Spitak earthquake fault zone to an E-W extension at the Aboul-Samsar volcanic axis. These results agree well with the N-S convergence between Arabia and Eurasia, and the E-W lateral expulsion of the Anatolian and Iranian blocks. A detailed cartographic network of active structures was drawn and their kinematic relationships were specified. In places, recent offsets on strike-slip faults were estimated at about 500 to 1000 m. Suitable sites for future determination of fault velocity displacements were also selected. This study shows that some strike-slip faults behave partly like faults which transform the E-W extension of the N-S striking normal faults into a N-S compression along the E-W thrusts. One of the characteristics of this region is the continuous important volcanic activity at least from the Jurassic until now. This persistence evidences a lithospheric thinning, which remained in spite of the recent Arabian-Eurasian collision because of the E-W extension linked to the opposite lateral expulsion of the Anatolian and Iranian blocks. This geodynamic evolution can explain the juxtaposition and superimposition of volcanic structures and thrusts in a general compressive context. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1993