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How did mountain-building events affect Permian climates?

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Permian paleogeography — Permian Period Distribution of landmasses, mountainous regions, shallow seas, and deep ocean basins near the end of the Permian Period. Included in the paleogeographic reconstruction are the locations of the interval's subduction zones.

During the Permian Period, extensive mountain-building events (orogenies) associated with the assembly of the supercontinent Pangea played a critical role in shaping regional and local climates.1

These orogenies created high mountain ranges that significantly disrupted east-west atmospheric flow in temperate and higher latitudes. Specifically, two major mountain chains—one oriented east-west in the tropics and another running north-south—diverted warm marine air into higher latitudes.1

Furthermore, the continental collisions that produced these ranges closed various marine seaways. This closure altered global ocean circulation by deflecting warm surface currents toward the poles, which contributed to the development of dry to arid conditions across much of the Permian landscape. These tectonic processes were fundamental to the transition toward the hot, dry climates that characterized the Late Permian Epoch.1