Orogeny which developed in continental detachment systems at converged plate margins. Orogeny An orogeny is an event that leads to both structural deformation and compositional differentiation of the Earth's lithosphere (crust and uppermost mantle) at convergent plate margins. An orogen or orogenic belt develops when a continental plate crumples and is pushed upwards to form one or more mountain ranges; this involves a series of geological processes collectively called orogenesis. Orogeny is the primary mechanism by which mountains are built on continents. The word "orogeny" comes from Ancient Greek (, , + , , ). Although it was used before him,
Colorado orogeny Central Plains orogeny. The boundary between the Colorado orogeny and the Wyoming craton is the Cheyenne belt, a 5-km-wide mylonitic shear zone that verges northward. The Cheyenne belt transects and cuts off the south edge of the older Trans-Hudson orogeny. The Paleoproterozoic volcanic and sedimentary rocks that resulted from the Colorado orogeny underwent metamorphism followed by plastic folding under moderate pressure and temperature (PT) conditions (temperature about 500 °C and pressures in excess of 1.2 GPa). The metamorphism was accompanied by intrusion of intermediate calc-alkalic rocks, such as the granodiorites of the Boulder Creek batholith. The accompanying amphibolite facies metamorphism