This paper gives an overview of the large-scale tectonic styles encountered in orogens
worldwide. Thin-skinned and thick-skinned tectonics represent two end member styles …

Abstract The European Alps are the site where classic geologic concepts such as nappe
theory, continental subduction and slab breakoff have been first proposed. However, the …

Defining the structural style of fold–thrust belts and understanding the controlling factors are
necessary steps towards prediction of their long-term and short-term dynamics, including …

Estimating shortening in collision belts is critical to reconstruct past plate motions. Balanced
cross‐section techniques are efficient in external domains but lack resolution in the …

Complexly deformed rocks that exhibit refolded folds and overprinting planar fabrics are
often interpreted as the result of polyphase deformation and described in a scheme of …

Abstract The West European collisional Alpine belts are the result of the inversion, initiated
in the middle Cretaceous, of the complex western Neotethys and the Atlantic continental rift …

Slab retreat, slab tearing and interactions of slabs are first-order drivers of the deformation of
the overriding lithosphere. An independent description of the tectonic evolution of the back …

The boundary between the Helvetic and the Penninic (= Briançonnais) Zones has long been
recognized as a major fault (“Penninic Front”) in the Western Alps. A narrow oceanic domain …

The age of brittle deformation in the superficial part of orogens is generally constrained by
relative, cross-cutting structural relationships. However, it becomes possible to decipher the …

After the onset of plate collision in the Alps, at 32–34 Ma, the deep structure of the orogen is
inferred to have changed dramatically: European plate break-offs in various places of the …