The knowledge concerning paleogeothermal conditions, and the diagenetic evolution of sediments in the Swiss and French Molasse Basin is still rather fragmentary and no detailed basin-wide synthesis has been published yet. The (paleo)thermal regime of the Molasse basin is probably a highly dynamic system controlled by a large number of interrelated parameters. The aims of the study are, therefore, to contribute to a better understanding of this system. The diagenetic evolution, the paleogeothermal regime and the heat transfer processes in the northem Alpine Foreland Basin (Switzerland, France) are the main topics of this study.