Pangaea, the

supercontinent, as it was
assembled 290 million
years ago. Continental
collisions produced the
interior mountains – the
Appalachian-Caledonian,
Hercynian, and Uralian
belts (purple). These
ancient sutures, sites of
vanished oceans, are
evidenced today by relic
mountains with multiple
thrusts and folds
containing slivers of
seafloor preserved in
ophiolite remnants.
Subduction of ocean
floor, still going on today,
marks the peripheral
Cordilleran, Andean,
Tasmanian, and other
orogenic belts (orange)
(from Press & Siever
2000).
Geología, S. Rosas

The highly deformed and metamorphosed rocks in the Canadian Shield indicate that intense
orogenic (mountain-building) episodes took place in Precambrian times, before conditions
stabilized (from Press & Siever 2000).
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Geología, S. Rosas

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When plates bearing continents collide, the continental crust can break into multiple
thrust fault sheets stacked one above the other (from Press & Siever 2000).

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(from Grotzinger et al. 2007).

Geología para Ingenieros, S. Rosas

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(from Grotzinger et al. 2007).

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Mountain structures vary in form and origin. (a) Mountains formed by volcanic action, such
as the Cascades, extending from northern California through western Oregon and
Washington into British Columbia. (b) Upwarped mountains, with reverse faults, such as
the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains in Colorado. (from Press & Siever 2000).

Geología, S. Rosas

(c) Mountain ranges formed from tilted fault blocks, bounded by normal faults, with valleys
between ranges, such as the mountains of the Basin and Range province. (d) Mountains
resulting from folded layers of rock, such as the Appalachian fold belt. (e) Mountains
formed from stacked or overlapping thrust faults, such as those at boundaries of plate
convergence. Examples are the Himalayas and the southern Appalachians (from Press &
Siever 2000). Geología, S. Rosas

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 Geología, S. Rosas

Idealized section of basin and dome structures. Basins and domes provide evidence of
vertical movements in the relatively undeformed, stable interior platform of the United
States (from Press & Siever 2000).

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 Some proposed
mechanisms for
vertical movements
(not to scale). (a) A
glacial ice load
buckles the crust;
slow uplift follows
removal of the ice.
(b) Lithosphere
forms at mid-ocean
ridges, the ridge
crest is uplifted, and
the seafloor
subsides as the
place cools and
contracts. (from
Press & Siever
2000).

Geología, S. Rosas

(c) Thinning and upwarping

of continental lithosphere as
a result of heating.
Stretching can thin the
continental crust as it
subsides to form a basin
within the continent. If the
plate rifts, two continents
result, with an ocean
growing between them.
Receding edges of the
continents erode at the top
and cool and contract within,
forming subsiding
continental margins. (d) A
plume rising from the core –
mantle boundary applies
vertical forces at the base of
the lithosphere, upwarping
the surface (from Press &
Siever 2000).

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Geología, S. Rosas

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Geología, S. Rosas

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 Geología, S. Rosas

Mount Everest, Nepal, the Geología, S. Rosas

highest mountain in the
world, as viewed from Kala
Pattar. [Michael C.
Klesius/National
Geographic/Getty Images.]
(from Press & Siever, 2006)

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