A broad synform in the Balagne region of northern Corsica (France) comprises the most complete remnant of the southwestern Alpine foreland basin and associated orogenic wedge, which have been otherwise fragmented and mostly eroded by a late Cenozoic postcollisional episode of microplate dispersal along the southern European continental margin. The Upper Cretaceous–Eocene turbidites of the Balagne region record the opening and subsequent progressive closure of the Ligurian-Piedmont ocean, the main branch of the Alpine Tethys in the Western Mediterranean. Sandstone detrital modes (gross and heavy-mineral compositions) of the Balagne turbidites can be compared with those of age-equivalent lithostratigraphic units...