Abstract
THE geotectonic and palaeogeographic problems created by severe crustal shortening in orogenic belts are numerous and difficult to solve. In spite of plate tectonics, or because of it, one such problem of major significance persists: where is much of the continental crust that once underlay many of the nappes in tremendously shortened and imbricated belts such as the Alps1–4? In the scheme of plate tectonics, it is implausible to pull, melt or shove continental crust back into the mantle5; yet some authors express faith in such a concept6 or, lacking faith, despair of a solution7. I propose that the solution to this problems lies quite simply in the fact that the original eugeosynclinal basement8 of the Alpine belt consisted of distended continental crust, as clearly understood by Trümpy9.
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HELWIG, J. Shortening of continental crust in orogenic belts and plate tectonics. Nature 260, 768–770 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1038/260768a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/260768a0
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