Physical Processes
Orogeny
Also Known As Mountain Building
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Orogeny is the mountain-building process that occurs at convergent plate margins, through subduction or continental collision, and can take tens of millions of years to raise a mountain range from what were once sedimentary basins.
Facts
Process Type TimescaleTens of millions of years; the Laramide orogeny alone lasted about 40 million years, from roughly 75 to 35 million years ago. 1 First Proposed Year1890 is when the American geologist G. K. Gilbert is credited with using the term for the mountain-building process. Scientific Consensus Year Cross-Tradition Connections
Shaped
The Alpine orogeny, driven by the collision of the African and Eurasian plates, raised the range.
The Andes were raised by ongoing subduction-driven orogeny along South America's Pacific margin, alongside the volcanism it also drives.
The ongoing collision of the Indian and Eurasian plates continues to raise the Himalayas through orogeny.
Sources
1. Orogeny (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationLeadQuote, Lead
Orogeny is a mountain-building process that takes place at a convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin.
1. Orogeny (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHistory sectionQuote, History section
the American geologist G. K. Gilbert used the term in 1890 to mean the process of mountain-building.
1. Orogeny (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationBodyQuote, Body
The processes of orogeny can take tens of millions of years and build mountains from what were once sedimentary basins.
2. Plate Tectonics (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHistory sectionQuote, History section
The theory of plate tectonics was defined in a series of papers between 1965 and 1967.
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