We analyze the tectono‐sedimentary and thermochronometric constraints of the Tertiary Piedmont Basin (TPB) and its adjoining orogen, the Ligurian Alps, providing new insights on the basin evolution in response to a changing geodynamic setting. The geometry of the post‐metamorphic faults of the Ligurian belt as well as the fault network that controlled the Oligo–Miocene TPB deposition has been characterized through a detailed structural analysis. Three main faulting stages have been distinguished and dated thanks to the relationships among faults and basin stratigraphy and thermochronometric data. The first stage (F1, Rupelian–Early Chattian) is related to the development of extensional NNW‐directed faults, which controlled the exhumation of the orogen and the deposition of nearshore clastics. During the Late Chattian, the basin drowning is marked by mudstones and turbidites, which deposition was influenced by the second faulting stage (F2). This phase was mainly characterized by NE‐ to ENE‐striking faults developed within a transtensional zone. Since the Miocene, the whole area was dominated by transpressive tectonics. The sedimentation was represented by a condensed succession followed by a very thick, turbiditic complex. At the regional scale, this succession of events reflects the major geodynamic reorganization in the central Mediterranean region during the Oligo–Miocene times, induced by the late‐collisional processes of the Alps, by the eastward migration of the Apennines subduction and by the opening of extensional basins (i. e., the Liguro–Provençal Ocean).

Ages of Permian volcanic rocks from the Ligurian Briançonnais domain (Western Italian Alps) have been determined by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry U–Pb dating of zircon. Three major volcanic units yielded zircons that were dated: calc-alkaline rhyolites (285.6 ± 2.6 Ma), andesites (with inherited cores yielded ages c . 476 Ma and older) and voluminous rhyodacites–rhyolites (272.7 ± 2.2 Ma). Following an amagmatic, sediment-starved time gap of c . 14 Ma, alkaline volcanic activity is recorded, at the top of the sequence, by K-alkaline rhyolites dated at 258.5 ± 2.8 Ma. The Ligurian segment of the Southern Variscan belt records transtensional and then extensional tectonics associated with the volcanic activity. The switch from calc-alkaline to alkaline activity corresponds to the transition from a post-orogenic to an anorogenic setting in the Southern Variscides; it may represent progressive and increasing delamination of the continental lithosphere, accompanied by partial melting of the lithospheric mantle. Supplementary material: Technical and data acquisition parameters, U–Th–Pb isotope analyses and calculated ages of zircons from samples and standard, and trace element compositions of selected zircons are available at: http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18322 .