Acknowledgments The authors are indebted to S. Grand, N. Shapiro, M. Ritzwoller, and W. Spakman for providing their seismic tomographic models. Figure 1 was prepared by S.B. Lyngsie using the GMT soft
The Alps were developed from the Cretaceous onwards by subduction of a Mesozoic ocean and collision between the Adriatic (Austroalpine-Southalpine) and Europea