Cimmerian Orogeny Cimmerian Orogeny The Cimmerian Orogeny was an orogeny that created mountain ranges that now lie in Central Asia. The orogeny is believed to have begun 200–150 million years ago (much of the Jurassic Period), when the Cimmerian plate collided with the southern coast of Kazakhstania and North and South China, closing the ancient Paleo-Tethys Ocean between them. The plate consisted of what are now known as Turkey, Iran, Tibet and western Southeast Asia. Much of the plate's northern boundary formed mountain ranges that were as high as the present-day Himalayas. The orogeny continued well into the Cretaceous and Early Cenozoic.
Andean orogeny and then to the opening of the Drake Passage 45 million years ago. The separation from Antarctica changed the tectonics of the Fuegian Andes into a transpressive regime with transform faults. About 15 million years ago in the Miocene the Chile Ridge begun to subduct beneath the southern tip of Patagonia (55° S). The point of subduction, the triple junction has gradually moved to the north and lies at present at 47° S. The subduction of the ridge has created a northward moving "window" or gap in the asthenosphere beneath South America. Andean orogeny The Andean orogeny () is an