orogenic belt

…first-order classes: continental nuclei and orogenic (mountain-building) zones. The continental nuclei consist of platforms that stabilized mostly in Precambrian time (between roughly 4 billion and 541 million years ago) and have been covered largely by little-disturbed sedimentary rocks; included in that designation are the Angaran (or East Siberian), Indian, and

…are found in the growing fold belt of the Banda arcs and in New Guinea at the boundary between the Indian-Australian plate and the Eurasian and Pacific plates. The modern fold belts are separated from Australia by a “moat” (the Timor Trough) and a wide shelf (the Timor and Arafura…

…almost completely enclosed by younger orogenic belts (belts of former or actual mountain ranges resulting from crustal deformation related to subduction or continental collision). These lowlands include the Canadian (Laurentian) Shield and an interior platform of crystalline rock that is covered by a veneer of virtually flat-lying sedimentary rock.

…subdivided into three distinct groups: orogenic belts, such as the Maroni-Itacaiúnas belt of the Amazonia craton or the Salvador-Juazeiro belt of the São Francisco; stable cover rocks, such as the Chapada Diamantina formation in Bahia or the Carajás and Roraima platform deposits; and large extensional dike swarms (groups of tabular…