European orogenic processes research transects the eastern Alps

Abstract

The Alps—the youngest and most elevated mountain range in Europe—have inspired ideas about orogenic evolution for a long time. During the late 1980s, the western Alps were the site of intensive research using seismic profiling methods by Swiss, Italian, and French national programs [ Rome et al. , 1990; Pfiffner et al. , 1997] .These investigations, some of which formed part of the European Traverse [ Blundell et al. , 1992], provided a great wealth of new data relevant to the Alpine orogeny. This orogeny is generally viewed in the context of the collision of the European and the Adriatic/African continental plates after the closure and subduction of the Penninic Ocean since about 40–50 Ma.