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The Neka Valley nappe complex is exposed in the south of Gorgan County in the eastern Alborz fold-and-thrust belt. We use the results of a regional survey of the structural data and their patterns to interpret the mechanisms that emplaced the unmetamorphosed nappes in the foreland fold-and-thrust belt of the Alborz Mountains. Most of the strain magnitudes are low in the study area but increase slightly towards what are probably their proximal ends. Strain ellipsoid is dominantly oblate with XY aligned along and across the belt (or the nappe complex). The average kinematic vorticity number, Wk = 0.6 which indicates most of the strain partitioning resulted in a general shear. Most of Flinn’s k values and α (the stretch along the shear plane) values are lower than 1. Structural indicators such as orthogonal extensional joints, pinch-and-swell structures, anastomosing cleavages, and listric normal and growth faults developed by push from the rear. Large-scale thrust complexes with opposed-dips such as triangle zones (as well as k and α-values <1) are compatible with the shear flow diverging distally and streamlines expected of the rear compression emplacement mechanism. Together with a later minor brittle deformation, these major ductile strains appears to provide a general model suitable for the emplacement of the nappes studied in a thin-skinned fold-and-thrust belt where the sedimentary cover strata shortened and imbricated in the upper crust. © 2016, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.