Sevier orogeny region which caused folding and thrusting. The mountains that were formed as a result were located in western Utah and eastern Nevada. The size, shape, and depth of the thrust faults created in the Sevier event are determined by seismic studies and deep well data because they are mostly still buried by overlying rock and sediment. The Sevier and Laramide orogenies ended when subduction along the western edge of North America was overcome by western extension of the North American Plate to start the Basin and Range Orogeny. The well known and familiar Basin and Range faults cut the older
Grenville orogeny here. Ages are approximated from the magmatic activity associated with the individual cycles of the orogeny. The gaps in the ages of the compression cycles and isotope analysis of hornblende, biotite, and potassium feldspar suggest that extension was occurring when compression had momentarily ceased. Rivers' 2008 paper has now examined the timing of the different periods of the orogeny and reconstructed the timeline based on the spatial and temporal metamorphism of the rocks present. According to this newer version of the timeline which is a composite of Rivers 1997 and Gower and Krogh 2002, the Elzevirian orogeny occurs from 1240