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Abstract

In this thesis I focus on the North Alpine pro‐wedge and scrutinize the potential driving forces of tectonic activity. The key questions I try to answer are: - Is it possible to constrain further the timing and amount of deformation (i.e. shortening) in the foreland fold and thrust belt of the European Alps, in particular in Late Neogene times? - What does this timing and magnitude of deformation tell us about the kinematics of late stage exhumation and the relation between the Alps and their foreland? - Can we evaluate the influence of climate (or climate changes) on timing and magnitude of deformation within the foreland fold and thrust belt? To address these questions, I combine low temperature thermochronology (in particular apatite fission track and apatite (U‐Th‐Sm)/He dating) with critical taper analysis and try to extrapolate the present day kinematic situation into the past; thus providing an instrument to understand wedge dynamics through time.