Acadian orogeny Acadian orogeny The Acadian orogeny is a long-lasting mountain building event which began in the Middle Devonian, reaching a climax in the early Late Devonian. It was active for approximately 50 million years, beginning roughly around 375 million years ago, with deformational, plutonic, and metamorphic events extending into the Early Mississippian. The Acadian orogeny is the third of the four orogenies that created the Appalachian orogen and subsequent basin. The preceding orogenies consisted of the Potomac and Taconic orogeny, which followed a rift/drift stage in the Late Neoproterozoic. The Acadian orogeny involved the collision of a series of Avalonian continental
Svecofennian orogeny broad terms, regardless of details, it has been proposed that the Svecofennian orogeny involved more-less continuous subduction with subduction zones progressively migrating to the southwest. An alternative model postulates subduction included alternating extension and compression cycles, with the orogenic activity ceasing after the collision between the Fennoscandian Craton and the Sarmatian Craton. Prior to the onset of orogeny the Archean-aged craton of what is today northeastern Fennoscandia rifted creating an ocean basin, the "pre-Svecofennian Ocean", that then closed during the Svecofennian orogeny. The closure of this basin was indebted to subduction and resulted thus both in the formation of igneous