Orogeny
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In geology, orogeny is the process of mountain building. The process of orogeny can take tens of millions of years and build mountains from plains or even the ocean floor. Orogeny can occur due to continential collisons or volcanic activity. Frequently, rock formations that undergo orogeny are severely deformed and undergo metamorphism. During orogeny, deeply buried rocks may be pushed to the surface. Sea bottom and near shore material may cover some or all of the orogenic area. If the orogeny is due to two continents colliding, the resulting mountains can be very high (see Himalaya).
Orogeny usually produces long linear structures, known as orogenic belts. Generally, orogenic belts consist of long parallel strips of rock exhibiting similar characteristics along the length of the belt. Orogenic belts are associated with subduction zones, which consume crust, produce volcanoes, and build island arcs. These island arcs may be added to a continent during an orogenic event.
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List of orogenies
North American orogenies
- Acadian orogeny
- Antler orogeny
- Ancestral Sierra Nevada western United States.
- Appalachian orogeny
- Appalachian Mountains, is a well studied orogenic belt resulting from a late Paleozoic collision between North America and Africa.
- Grenville orogeny
- Eastern North America from Newfoundland to North Carolina during Late Proterozoic Eon 1800 - ~1100 Myr ago.
- Laramide orogeny
- Rocky Mountains, western North America, 40-70 Myr ago.
- Nevadan orogeny
- developed along western North America during the Jurassic Period.
- Ouachita orogeny
- Ouachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma is an orogenic belt that dates from the late Paleozoic Era and is most likely a continuation of the Appalachian orogeny west across the Mississippi embayment - Reelfoot Rift zone.
- Penokean orogeny
- Taconic orogeny
- NE U.S. and Canada during the Ordovician Period.
European orogenies
- Alpine orogeny
- Caledonian orogeny
- Carpathean orogeny
- Carpathian Mountains of east Europe during the Miocene Period.
- Hellenic orogeny
- Ural orogeny
- Ural Mountains, Eurasia during the Permian Period.
- Variscan orogeny
Asian orogenies
- The Aravalli-Delhi Orogen (precambrian)
- The Cimmerian and Cathayasian orogenies
- Himalayan orogeny
- The Himalaya Mountains is a result of the ongoing collision of the Indian Plate with the Eurasian Plate.
South American orogenies
- Andean orogeny
- Andes Mountains, 0-200 Myr ago.
Antarctic orogenies
- Napier orogeny (4000 ± 200 Myr ago.)
- Rayner orogeny (~ 3500 Myr ago.)
- Humboldt orogeny (~ 3000 Myr ago.)
- Insel orogeny (2650 ± 150 Myr ago.)
- Early Ruker orogeny (2000 - 1700 Myr ago.)
- Late Ruker / Nimrod orogeny (1000 ± 150 Myr ago.)
- Beardmore orogeny (633 - 620 Myr ago.)
- Ross Orogeny (~ 500 Myr ago.)
External links
- Maps of the Acadian and Taconic orogenies (http://greenfield.fortunecity.com/shell/89/)
- Antarctic Geology (http://home.freeuk.com/gtlloyd/tam/geochron.htm)de:Gebirgsbildung