The question of lateral and/or vertical continuity of subducted slabs in active orogens is a hot topic partly due to poorly resolved tomographic data. The complex slab structure beneath the Alpine region is only partly resolved by available geophysical data, leaving many geological and geodynamical issues widely open. Based upon a finite‐frequency kernel method, we present a new high‐resolution tomography model using P wave data from 527 broadband seismic stations, both from permanent networks and temporary experiments. This model provides an improved image of the slab structure in the Alpine region and fundamental pinpoints for the analysis of Cenozoic magmatism, (U)HP metamorphism, and Alpine topography. Our results document the lateral continuity of the European slab from the Western Alps to the central Alps, and the downdip slab continuity beneath the central Alps, ruling out the hypothesis of slab break off to explain Cenozoic Alpine magmatism. A low‐velocity anomaly is observed in the upper mantle beneath the core of the Western Alps, pointing to dynamic topography effects. A NE dipping Adriatic slab, consistent with Dinaric subduction, is possibly observed beneath the Eastern Alps, whereas the laterally continuous Adriatic slab of the Northern Apennines shows major gaps at the boundary with the Southern Apennines and becomes near vertical in the Alps‐Apennines transition zone. Tear faults accommodating opposite‐dipping subductions during Alpine convergence may represent reactivated lithospheric faults inherited from Tethyan extension. Our results suggest that the interpretations of previous tomography results that include successive slab break offs along the Alpine‐Zagros‐Himalaya orogenic belt might be proficiently reconsidered.

The first discovery of ultrahigh-pressure coesite in the European Alps 30 years ago led to the inference that a positively buoyant continental crust can be subducted to mantle depth; this had been considered impossible since the advent of the plate tectonics concepts. Although continental subduction is now widely accepted, there remains debate because there is little direct (geophysical) evidence of a link between exhumed coesite at the surface and subducted continental crust at depth. Here we provide the first seismic evidence for continental crust at 75 km depth that is clearly connected with the European crust exactly along the transect where coesite was found at the surface. Our data also provide evidence for a thick suture zone with downward-decreasing seismic velocities, demonstrating that the European lower crust underthrusts the Adriatic mantle. These findings, from one of the best-preserved and long-studied ultrahigh-pressure orogens worldwide, shed decisive new light on geodynamic processes along convergent continental margins.*

The unusual reactivation of the North China Craton (NCC) challenges the classical views concerning the strength and stability of cratonic lithosphere. By using teleseismic body‐waves recorded at 250 seismic stations, this paper presents high‐resolution North China Models of P‐ and S‐wave velocity based on finite‐frequency kernel tomography. Both P‐ and S‐wave velocity models reveal that: (1) an obvious N–S trending narrow low‐velocity region is located at the base of the lithosphere beneath the Central Block (CB) of the NCC, which extends to more than 500 km depth; (2) a region of high‐velocity extends to more than 250–300 km depth beneath the Western Block, in contrast to the much shallower high‐velocity zones beneath the CB and shallower high‐velocities beneath the Eastern Block. These features suggest that warm mantle material with a source at least as deep as the transition zone, possibly a mantle plume, may be responsible for the reactivation of the NCC. The Central Block may have behaved as a sublithospheric corridor for the warm mantle material due to its pre‐existing weakness.