Different associations of pre-Alpine metamorphic rocks were conserved in the main Alpine tectonic units of the Southern Carpathians: Supragetic, Getic, Danubian. Prior to the Alpine cycle they were joined by Variscan napping and by pre-Variscan tectonic transport on the deep-seated ductile shear zone. Thus, the Alpine units include fragments of the Variscan continental crust with different geological evolution in the Paleozoic and in the pre-Cambrian.