Andean orogeny Andean orogeny The Andean orogeny () is an ongoing process of orogeny that began in the Early Jurassic and is responsible for the rise of the Andes mountains. The orogeny is driven by a reactivation of a long-lived subduction system along the western margin of South America. On a continental scale the Cretaceous (90 Ma) and Oligocene (30 Ma) were periods of re-arrangements in the orogeny. Locally the details of the nature of the orogeny varies depending on the segment and the geological period considered. Subduction orogeny has been occurring in what is now western South America since the break-up
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