Algoman orogeny geophysical measurements on the greenstone belts in Canada, suggest the metavolcanic and metasedimentary rocks of the belts project downward at least a few kilometers. The action of metamorphism on the border between granite and gneiss bodies produces a succession of metamorphosed volcanic and sedimentary rocks called greenstone belts. Most Archean volcanic rocks are concentrated within greenstone belts; the green color comes from minerals, such as chlorite, epidote and actinolite that formed during metamorphism. After metamorphism occurred, these rocks were folded and faulted into a system of mountains by the Algoman orogeny. The volcanic beds are thick. About the greenstone belt
Sonoma orogeny arcs, composed of volcanic and volcaniclastic strata and paired geotectonically with Sonoma accretionary prisms to the east, are present in the Klamath-Sierran region of the Cordilleran orogen to the south of volcanic cover in the Pacific Northwest. Burchfiel and Davis presented a detailed model relating the Sonoma orogeny to convergent plate tectonic processes. They postulated an east-dipping subduction zone beneath a magmatic arc to the west of the continent. In this scheme, a back-arc basin floored by oceanic crust lay between the arc and the continent. The Sonoma orogeny involved closure of this basin and a process by which the