Alpine orogeny Alpine orogeny The Alpine orogeny or Alpide orogeny is an orogenic phase in the Late Mesozoic (Eoalpine) and the current Cenozoic that has formed the mountain ranges of the Alpide belt. These mountains include (from west to east) the Atlas, the Rif, the Baetic Cordillera, the Cantabrian Mountains, the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Apennine Mountains, the Dinaric Alps, the Hellenides, the Carpathians, the Balkan Mountains, the Taurus, the Armenian Highlands, the Caucasus, the Alborz, the Zagros, the Hindu Kush, the Pamir, the Karakoram, and the Himalayas. Sometimes other names occur to describe the formation of separate mountain ranges: for example
Sveconorwegian orogeny orogeny propagated eastward. There are differing views on the nature of the orogeny. One view, known as the "classical", postulates that a continent–continent collision, possibly with Amazonia, was responsible for giving the orogenic belts its current characteristics. An alternative view postulated in 2013 claims such collision did likely not occur as the characteristics of the orogen would be explained solely as the result of subduction and accretion of smaller terranes. These different views have implications for the configuration of the ancient supercontinent Rodinia. The southern part of what would eventually become the Western Gneiss Region of Norway formed migmatites and