Abstract Models of orogens identify subduction of oceanic crust as the key mechanism
leading to continental collision. Such models, based inter alia on thermobarometric and
geochronological evidence preserved in high-pressure metamorphic rocks and subduction-
related magmatism, have been used to explain the convergence of Europe and Adria in the
Cretaceous–Cenozoic and the subsequent Alpine orogen. Here, we review the
metamorphic, igneous, and sedimentary record of the past 300 Ma of the Alpine orogen to …