Austroalpine nappes

The Alps contain three such stacks, of which the Austroalpine nappes are structurally on top of the other two (meaning they were thrust over the other two).

They are Paleozoic schists and (para-)gneisses intruded by granites of Variscan and Tertiary age.

All of these lithologies were folded and thrust, so that the basement rock can be found on top of the sediments and vice versa.

The metamorphic grade increases to the east-south-east, so in a west-north-western direction, the traces become less severe.

In Austria, however, Eo-Alpine eclogite lenses occur close to the Hohe Tauern window.