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We analyze a fully reprocessed data set of ~9,000 seismic events recorded in the western Alpine region during the past 30 yr, in order to understand how convergence between Africa and Eurasia is presently accommodated at the transition between the opposite‐dipping Alpine and Apenninic slabs. We confirm that seismicity in the Internal Zone of the Western Alps is clustered along two different arcs (Briançonnais and Piedmont arcs), clearly outlined by events in the 0–12 km depth range. The Piedmont Arc is best outlined by events in the 12–30 km depth range, forming a narrow belt that matches the shape and location of the Ivrea gravity anomaly. In the Internal Zone, σ3, is oblique to the orogen trend. Although the mountain range is spreading gravitationally at a shallow level, spreading occurs intermittently with other earthquakes that are more directly related to plate interactions. Strike‐slip solutions are predominant for events of magnitude Ml > 4, and reverse solutions are dominant along the Piedmont Arc for events of magnitude Ml < 4. Nodal planes have dominant NNW‐SSE and ENE‐WSW orientations that are common to major faults mapped in the study area. Integration with available tectonic and geodynamic constraints indicates that lithology distribution in the subduction wedge, orientation of major faults within and outside the subduction zone, and the exhumation of mantle rocks at shallow depth concurrently determine a complex seismotectonic scenario that may be expected in other subduction zones worldwide.

International audience; 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.