The Western Carpathians are separated into an Outer and Inner Carpathians (both comprising
several nappe systems) by the extremely narrow and highly deformed Pieniny Klippen
Belt. The main phase of deformation and thrusting took place during the Late Cretaceous
in the Inner Carpathians, at the end of Cretaceous-Paleocene in the Pieniny Klippen
Belt and in the Miocene in the Outer Carpathians. In this paper a large amount of
palaeomagnetic results of different quality available from several nappe stacks and
from overstep sequences were reviewed and interpreted in terms of tectonics. The data
suggest that all three main units participated in two phases of anticlockwise rotation
starting at 18.5 Ma, that is, the Outer Carpathian nappes in front of the already
consolidated Alpine-Carpathian-Pannonian block became accreted to the block. Late
Cretaceous nappe transport, Neogene uplift of 'core mountains' and possibly oroclinal
bending of pre-Oligocene age can account for important differences in pre-Cenozoic
palaeomagnetic declinations. Most of them exhibit less or no anticlockwise rotation
suggested by the overstep sequences, implying pre-Cenozoic clockwise rotations of
variable angles.
