Alleghanian orogeny Province must have been even more intense; however, there is little evidence preserved. Rocks of Mississippian, Pennsylvanian, and Permian age are missing along the Eastern Seaboard. The mountains formed by the Alleghanian orogeny were once rugged and high, but in our time are now eroded into only a small remnant: the heavily-eroded hills of the Piedmont. Sediments that were carried eastward formed the coastal plain and part of the continental shelf. Thus, the coastal plain and Piedmont are largely the byproducts of erosion that took place from 150+ million years ago to the present. Sediments that were carried westward formed
Grenville orogeny the Highlands to the southeast and the Lowlands to the northwest. It is believed that the shear zone (the Carthage-Colton) was a transpressional boundary during the Ottawan, when the Highlands were thrust over the Lowlands. The Grenville province is named for the village of Grenville in Quebec, and constitutes the youngest portion of the Canadian Shield. Since the area has not undergone any regional metamorphic overprinting since the orogeny, it is considered an ideal study area for Grenville and pre-Grenville age tectonics. Hence, most of what is known about the orogeny and its processes is derived from the Grenville Province.