Fig. 6

Simplified tectonic map of the Alps (based on Bousquet et al., 2012b; Schmid et al., 2004), showing the prevailing quartz fluid inclusion compositions compiled in Poty et. al. (2007) and this study, attributed to tectonic episodes constrained by fissure monazite age dating. a Fissures located in Austroalpine units formed during the Cretaceous (eo-Alpine) Barrow-type metamorphism and subsequent Gosau basin formation at 90–70 Ma old. b Areas containing 36–30 Ma old fissure monazites correlate with fluid inclusion data that formed during greenschist to amphibolite facies overprinting of high- to ultrahigh-pressure areas (Briançonnais and Piemontais zones). c 22–5 Ma old fissure monazites domains correlating with areas where quartz fluid inclusions became trapped during regional scale metamorphism in association with the exhumation of the Tauern metamorphic dome, the Engadine Window (and probably also the Rechnitz Window), the Lepontine metamorphic dome, and the external Aar, Gotthard, Mont-Blanc, Aiguilles Rouges, Belledonne and Pelvoux massifs. In addition, fissure formation and fluid trapping also occurred in association with strike-slip faulting in the Central and Western Tauern Window, in the Lepontine dome, in the overprinted high-pressure units of the Western Alps, and in the external massifs. This is due to escape tectonics following maximal steepening of the external massifs. 10–5 Ma old monazite growth domains indicate subsequent episodic reactivation of strike-slip movements