Properties and architecture of the Europe lithosphere achieved during the Permian (270 Ma) leading to break-up of Pangea. Magmatism and distributed extension in Western Europe that has commenced in the Late Variscan period reflect lithosphere thinning and thermal erosion caused by a combination of small-scale convection cells on craton margins and the west-directed asthenospheric outflux related to the propagation of the Neo-Tethys south of the Paleo-Tethys. Reconstruction is after Angrand et al. (2020).