The Alps are amongst the best subduction archives in the world, with abundant blueschists and eclogites preserving fragments of mantle, gabbros, thinned continental margin and pelagic sediments partly within their pre-collisional architecture. But to what extent is the Alpine record representative of the subduction of oceanic lithosphere worldwide? What is its significance, merits and limits for understanding subduction (and exhumation) dynamics? This contribution shows that this record is neither exceptional nor atypical but rather exemplifies the fate of relatively short-lived and small, slow-spreading and slowly closing North Atlantic-type oceans (in this case a ~ 400–700 km-wide domain closed over 60 Ma, at ~ 1 cm/a), whose subducting slabs do not reach below the Mantle Transition Zone. Subducted fragments experienced conditions typical of mature subduction worlwide and show no sign of significant tectonic overpressure. Contrasts in rock recovery with time and space outline distinct subduction dynamics. During the first half of the subduction lifetime (~30 Ma), no subducted oceanic fragments were recovered. A marked difference is observed between metasediment- and mafic/ultramafic-dominated units (S and MUM units). Underplating of S units took place intermittently and preferentially at ~ 30–40 km depth. The MUM units of the Western Alps deeply subducted to ~ 80 km were only recovered late, i.e. within a few Ma at most before continental subduction and initially lied close to the margin. At the scale of the orogen, the recovery of subducted fragments allows to recognize four distinct sectors and demonstrates a strong influence of initial margin architecture and/or continental subduction. Whilst typical of subduction zone thermal regimes, the subduction archive appears to selectively preserve slow-spreading oceans and/or hyperextended margins.

阿尔卑斯山是世界上最好的俯冲档案之一，有大量的蓝片岩和榴辉岩在其碰撞前的构造中部分保留着地幔，辉长岩，变薄的大陆边缘和浮游沉积物的碎片。但是，高山记录在多大程度上代表着全球海洋岩石圈俯冲作用？了解俯冲（和掘尸）动力学的意义，优点和局限性是什么？这一贡献表明，该记录既非异常也不非典型，而是例证了寿命相对较短，规模较小，传播缓慢且缓慢关闭的北大西洋型海洋的命运（在这种情况下，约有400-700公里的区域被封闭60 Ma，约1 cm / a），其俯冲板未达到地幔过渡带以下。俯冲碎片经历了整个世界范围内典型的成熟俯冲条件，并且没有显示出明显的构造超压迹象。岩石采收与时间和空间的对比勾勒出不同的俯冲动力学。在俯冲寿命的前半部分（约30 Ma）内，没有发现俯冲的海洋碎片。在以沉积物为主的和以镁铁质/超音波为主的单位（S和MUM单位）之间观察到显着差异。S单元的底部电镀是间歇性进行的，优先深度约为30–40 km。深俯冲至约80 km的西阿尔卑斯山的MUM单位仅在晚期才恢复，即在大陆俯冲之前最多在几Ma之内，最初位于边缘附近。就造山带而言，俯冲碎片的回收可以识别四个不同的区域，并显示出初始边缘构造和/或大陆俯冲的强烈影响。尽管具有典型的俯冲带热态，但俯冲档案似乎选择性地保留了缓慢扩散的海洋和/或超伸展的边缘。