Alleghenian orogeny in the context of "List of subranges of the Appalachian Mountains"

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⭐ Core Definition: Alleghenian orogeny

The Alleghanian orogeny or Appalachian orogeny is one of the geological mountain-forming events that formed the Appalachian Mountains and Allegheny Mountains. The term and spelling Alleghany orogeny was originally proposed by H.P. Woodward in 1957.

The Alleghanian orogeny occurred approximately 325 million to 260 million years ago over at least five deformation events in the Carboniferous to Permian period. The orogeny was caused by Africa's collision with North America. At the time, these continents did not exist in their current forms: North America was part of the Euramerica super-continent, while Africa was part of Gondwana. This collision formed the super-continent Pangaea, which contained all major continental land masses. The collision provoked the orogeny: it exerted massive stress on what is today the Eastern Seaboard of North America, forming a wide and high mountain chain. Evidence for the Alleghanian orogeny stretches for many hundreds of kilometres on the surface from Alabama to New Jersey and can be traced further subsurface to the southwest. In the north, the Alleghanian deformation extends northeast to Newfoundland. Subsequent erosion wore down the mountain chain and spread sediments both to the east and to the west.

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👉 Alleghenian orogeny in the context of List of subranges of the Appalachian Mountains

The following is a list of subranges within the Appalachian Mountains, a mountain range stretching ~2,050 miles from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada to Alabama, US. The Appalachians, at their initial formation, were a part of the larger Central Pangean Mountains along with the Scottish Highlands, the Ouachita Mountains, and the Anti-Atlas Mountains. The modern ranges were formed and/or deformed by the Acadian, Caledonian, Alleghenian, Mauritanide and Variscan orogenies with the Alleghenian orogeny being the most notable to the modern Appalachians.

The Appalachians are also subdivided by a number of large plateaus and additional subplateus. These are commonly not considered subranges although they do contain some features referred to as mountains which are assigned to both their geographic "range" and the more general Appalachian Mountains. These plateaus, such as the Allegheny Plateau, are considered provinces of the Appalachian Highlands and the mountains assigned to them are instead considered pieces of dissected plateaus.

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Alleghenian orogeny in the context of Hercynian Europe

The Variscan orogeny or Hercynian orogeny was a geologic mountain-building event caused by Late Paleozoic continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea. It remains visible today as a series of isolated massifs, including the Ardennes, Bohemian Massif, Vosges-Black Forest, Armorican Massif, Cornubian Massif, Massif Central, and Iberian System. These are interspersed with Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary basins. The chain also crops out in southern Ireland and was later incorporated into the Alpine orogeny (external crystalline massifs) and Pyrenean orogeny. These ancient massifs form the pre-Permian basement of western and Central Europe, part of a larger mountain system stretching from the Ural Mountains in Russia to the Appalachian Mountains in North America.

The chain originated from the convergence and collision of three continental masses: the microcontinent Armorica and the supercontinents Protogondwana and Laurussia (a union of Laurentia and Baltica from the Caledonian orogeny). This convergence contributed to the formation of the supercontinent Pangaea.

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LINKED FROM (PARENTS)
← Hercynian Europe ← Variscan orogeny ← List of subranges of the Appalachian Mountains
LINKS TO (CHILDREN)
Appalachian Mountains → Allegheny Mountains → Orogeny → Carboniferous → Permian → Euramerica → Gondwana → Pangaea → East Coast of the United States → Alabama → New Jersey → Newfoundland (island) →