Hercynian orogeny | geology | Britannica (original) (raw)
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Carboniferous Period
In Carboniferous Period: Paleogeography …Gondwana became fused by the Appalachian-Hercynian orogeny (mountain-building event), which continued into the Permian Period. The position of the landmass that would become the eastern United States and northern Europe remained equatorial, while the China and Siberia cratons continued to reside at high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. Read More
In Carboniferous Period: Paleogeography by the Appalachian-Hercynian orogeny (mountain-building event), which continued into the Permian Period. The position of the landmass that would become the eastern United States and northern Europe remained equatorial, while the China and Siberia cratons continued to reside at high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. Read More
metamorphism
In metamorphic rock: Distribution of metamorphic rocks The Hercynian, or Variscan, orogeny followed about 300 million years ago, affecting subparallel regions and the Urals and European Alps. In fact, the shield margins appear to have been subjected to a more or less constant battering by forces both destroying and rebuilding the margins of… Read More
geology of
Africa
In Africa: The Paleozoic Era …parts of the Carboniferous, the Hercynian mountain-building episodes occurred as a result of collision between the North American and African plates. The Mauritanide mountain chain was compressed and folded at that time along the western margin of the West African craton from Morocco to Senegal. Elsewhere, major uplift or subsidence… Read More
Arctic
In Arctic: Geology …that includes both Caledonian and Hercynian elements. It extends from the Queen Elizabeth Islands through Peary Land and along the east coast of Greenland. Mountain building occurred during the same period in Svalbard, Novaya Zemlya, the northern Urals, the Taymyr Peninsula, and Severnaya Zemlya. There is considerable speculation as to… Read More
Armorican Massif
In Armorican Massif Mountains formed during the Hercynian orogeny (mountain-building episode) of the Carboniferous Period (between about 360 and 300 million years ago) have been largely worn down by erosion, and elevations rarely exceed 1,300 feet (400 metres). The mountain of Avaloirs in Mayenne reaches an elevation of 1,368 feet (417 metres)… Read More
Caucasus Mountains
In Caucasus: Geology of Caucasus …folded structures dating from the Hercynian orogeny early in the Carboniferous Period (i.e., about 345 million years ago). Southwestern and southeastern Ciscaucasia lie on the margins of a vast downfold in the Earth’s surface that arose later in the Alpine orogeny, producing, concurrently, broad subsidence on the lower courses of… Read More
Ural Mountains
In Ural Mountains: Geology …the structural upheavals of the Hercynian orogeny (about 250 million years ago). About 280 million years ago there arose a high mountainous region, which was eroded to a peneplain. Alpine folding resulted in new mountains, the most marked upheaval being that of the Nether-Polar Urals. In the watershed region lies… Read More
