What is the Variscan orogeny?
Q: What is the Variscan orogeny?
A: The Variscan orogeny (also known as the Hercynian orogeny) was an ancient mountain-building event in the late Palaeozoic era, caused by a continental collision between Euramerica (Laurussia) and Gondwana to form the supercontinent of Pangaea.
Q: What are some examples of features created by the Variscan orogeny?
A: Examples of features created by the Variscan orogeny include the Appalachians in North America, Massif Central in France, Pyrenees, Sardinia, Rhine Massif, Anti-Atlas in Morocco, Urals, Pamir and Tian Shan mountains.
Q: When did this mountain-building event take place?
A: This geologic mountain-building event took place mostly in the Devonian and Carboniferous periods.
Q: How did Pangea split up later on?
A: Later on during the Mesozoic period, Pangea split up due to the opening of the Atlantic Ocean.
Q: What happened to all of these huge mountain belts after they were separated?
A: After being separated from each other due to Pangea splitting up, these huge mountain belts ended up widely apart on today's modern globe.
Q: Is there another episode of mountain-building that followed after this one?
A: Yes - following after this episode was another episode of mountain-building known as Alpine orogeny which created higher mountain chains on present day Earth.
