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The lack of preserved Mesozoic–Cenozoic sediments and structures in central Dronning Maud Land has so far limited our understanding of the post-Pan-African evolution of this important part of East Antarctica. In order to investigate the thermal evolution of the basement rocks and place constraints on landscape evolution, we present new low-temperature thermochronological data from 34 samples. Apatite fission track ages range from 280–85 Ma, while single-grain (U-Th)/He ages from apatite and zircon range from 305–15 and 420–340 Ma, respectively. Our preferred thermal history models suggest late Paleozoic–early Mesozoic peneplanation and subsequent burial by 3–6 km of Beacon sediments. The samples experienced no additional burial in the Jurassic, thus the once voluminous continental flood basalts of western Dronning Maud Land did not reach central Dronning Maud Land. Mesozoic–early Cenozoic cooling of the samples was slow. Contrary to western Dronning Maud Land, central Dronning Maud Land lacks a mid-Cretaceous cooling phase. We therefore suggest that the mid-Cretaceous cooling of western Dronning Maud Land should be attributed to the proximity to the collapse of the orogenic plateau at the Panthalassic margin of Gondwana. Cooling rates accelerated considerably with the onset of glaciation at 34 Ma, due to climate deterioration and glacial denudation of up to 2 km.

We have traced the particle path of high-pressure metasedimentary rocks on Elba Island, Northern Apennines, with the help of a U-Pb-Hf detrital zircon study. One quarter of the analysed zircons are surprisingly young, 41-30 Ma, with a main age peak at ca. 32 Ma, indicating an unexpected early Oligocene maximum deposition age. These Oligocene ages with negative εHf indicate a volcanic source region in the central-southern Alps. Though young by geological means, these zircons record an extraordinary geodynamic history. They originated in a volcanic arc, during the convergence/collision of the the Adria microplate with Europe from ca. 65 to 30 Ma. Thereafter, the Oligocene zircons travelled ca. 400 km southward along the Adria margin and the accretionary prism to present-day Tuscany, where they were subducted to depths of at least 40 km. Shortly thereafter, they were brought to the surface again in the wake of hinge roll back of the Apennine subduction zone and the resulting rapid extensional exhumation. Such a zircon roller coaster requires a microplate that has back-to-back subduction zones with opposing polarities on two sides.