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
Svecofennian orogeny broad terms, regardless of details, it has been proposed that the Svecofennian orogeny involved more-less continuous subduction with subduction zones progressively migrating to the southwest. An alternative model postulates subduction included alternating extension and compression cycles, with the orogenic activity ceasing after the collision between the Fennoscandian Craton and the Sarmatian Craton. Prior to the onset of orogeny the Archean-aged craton of what is today northeastern Fennoscandia rifted creating an ocean basin, the "pre-Svecofennian Ocean", that then closed during the Svecofennian orogeny. The closure of this basin was indebted to subduction and resulted thus both in the formation of igneous