Sevier orogeny Sevier orogeny The Sevier orogeny was a mountain-building event that affected western North America from Canada to the north to Mexico to the south. The Sevier orogeny was the result of convergent boundary tectonic activity between approximately 140 million years (Ma) ago and 50 Ma. The Sevier River area of central Utah is the namesake of this event. This orogeny was produced by the subduction of the oceanic Farallon Plate underneath the continental North American Plate. Crustal thickening that led to mountain building was caused by a combination of compressive forces and conductive heating initiated by subduction in the Sevier
Colorado orogeny Colorado orogeny The Colorado orogeny, or Colorado orogen, was an orogeny in Colorado and surrounding areas which was a part of the development of the ancestral Rockies. The Colorado orogeny, formerly called the Colorado province, is a >500-km-wide belt of oceanic arc rock (1.78–1.65 Ga) that extends southward into New Mexico and composes a major part of the Proterozoic provinces of southwestern United States. This transcontinental collisional event occurred during the Paleoproterozoic (Statherian Period). The Wyoming sector of the Colorado orogeny was formerly called the Medicine Bow orogeny. The eastern sector extends into the High Plains and is called the