Combined kinematic, structural and palaeostress (calcite twinning, fault-slip data) analyses are used to study the exhumation mechanism of the high-pressure rocks exposed on the island of Crete (southern Aegean, Greece). Our study shows that the evolution of windows in central Crete was controlled by two main contractional phases of deformation. The first phase (D₁) was related to the ductile-stage of exhumation. NNW–SSE compression during D₁ caused layer- and transport-parallel shortening in the upper thrust sheets, resulting in nappe stacking via low-angle thrusting. Synchronously, intracontinental subduction led to high-pressure metamorphism which, however, did not affect the most external parts of the southern Hellenides. Subsequent upward ductile extrusion of high-pressure rocks was characterized by both down-section increase of strain and up-section increase of the pure shear component. The second phase (D₂) was associated with the brittle-stage of exhumation. D₂ was governed by NNE–SSW compression and involved conspicuous thrust-related folding, considerable tectonic imbrication and formation of a Middle Miocene basin. The major D₂-related Psiloritis Thrust cross-cuts the entire nappe pile, and its trajectory partially follows and reworks the D₁-related contact between upper and lower (high-pressure) tectonic units. Eduction and doming of the Talea Window was accompanied by gravity sliding of the upper thrust sheets and by out-of-the-syncline thrusting. Late-orogenic collapse also contributed to the exhumation process. Therefore, it seems that the high-pressure rocks of central Crete were exhumed under continuous compression and that the role of extension was previously overestimated.

The effect of finite strain geometry on crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) is poorly constrained in the upper mantle. Specifically, the relationship between shape preferred orientation (SPO) and CPO in mantle rocks remains unclear. We analyzed a suite of 40 spinel peridotite xenoliths from Marie Byrd Land, West Antarctica. X‐ray computed tomography allows for quantification of spinel SPO, which ranges from prolate to oblate shape. Electron backscatter diffraction analysis reveals a range of olivine CPO patterns, including A‐type, axial‐[010], axial‐[100], and B‐type patterns. Until now, these CPO types were associated with different deformation conditions, deformation mechanisms, or strain magnitudes. Microstructures and deformation mechanism maps suggest that deformation in all studied xenoliths is dominated by dislocation‐accommodated grain boundary sliding. For the range of temperatures (780–1200°C), extraction depths (39–72 km), differential stresses (2–60 MPa), and water content (up to 500 H/10⁶Si) of the xenolith suite, variations in olivine CPO do not correlate with changes in deformation conditions. Here we establish for the first time in naturally deformed mantle rocks that finite strain geometry controls the development of axial‐type olivine CPOs; axial‐[010] and axial‐[100] CPOs form in relation to oblate and prolate fabric ellipsoids, respectively. Girdling of olivine crystal axes results from intracrystalline slip with activation of multiple slip systems and grain boundary sliding. Our results demonstrate that mantle deformation may deviate from simple shear. Olivine texture in field studies and seismic anisotropy in geophysical investigations can provide critical constraints for the 3‐D strain in the upper mantle.