Editing Erosion (section)

===Mountain ranges===
{{see also|denudation|planation}}
[[Mountain range]]s take millions of years to erode to the degree they effectively cease to exist. Scholars Pitman and Golovchenko estimate that it takes probably more than 450 million years to erode a mountain mass similar to the [[Himalaya]] into an almost-flat [[peneplain]] if there are no significant [[Sea level#Change|sea-level changes]].<ref name="PitmanGolovchenko1991">{{cite journal|last1=Pitman|first1=W. C.|last2=Golovchenko|first2=X.|title=The effect of sea level changes on the morphology of mountain belts|journal=Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth|volume=96|issue=B4|year=1991|pages=6879–6891|issn=0148-0227|doi=10.1029/91JB00250|bibcode=1991JGR....96.6879P}}</ref> Erosion of mountains massifs can create a pattern of equally high summits called [[summit accordance]].<ref>
{{cite book |last2=Chorley |first2=Richard J.|last1=Beckinsale |first1=Robert P. |title=The History of the Study of Landforms |volume=Three | orig-year = 1991 | date=2003|publisher=Taylor & Francis e-Library |chapter= Chapter Seven: American Polycyclic Geomorphology|pages=235–236}}</ref> It has been argued that [[extensional tectonics|extension]] during [[post-orogenic collapse]] is a more effective mechanism of lowering the height of orogenic mountains than erosion.<ref name=Deweyetal1993>{{cite journal |last1=Dewey |first1=J.F. |last2=Ryan |first2=P.D.|last3=Andersen |first3=T.B. |s2cid=55985869 |date=1993 |title=Orogenic uplift and collapse, crustal thickness, fabrics and metamorphic phase changes: the role of eclogites |journal=Geological Society, London, Special Publications |volume=76 |issue=1 |pages=325–343 |doi= 10.1144/gsl.sp.1993.076.01.16|bibcode=1993GSLSP..76..325D}}</ref>

Examples of heavily eroded mountain ranges include the [[Timanide Orogen|Timanides]] of Northern Russia. Erosion of this [[orogeny|orogen]] has produced [[sediment]]s that are now found in the [[East European Platform]], including the Cambrian [[Sablya Formation]] near [[Lake Ladoga]]. Studies of these sediments indicate that it is likely that the erosion of the orogen began in the Cambrian and then intensified in the [[Ordovician]].<ref name=Orlovetal2011>{{cite journal |last1=Orlov |first1=S.Yu. |last2=Kuznetsov |first2=N.B.|last3=Miller |first3=E.D.|last4=Soboleva |first4=A.A.|last5=Udoratina |first5=O.V. |date=2011 |title=Age Constraints for the Pre-Uralide–Timanide Orogenic Event Inferred from the Study of Detrital Zircons |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/236585203 |journal=Doklady Earth Sciences |volume=440 |issue=1 |pages=1216–1221 |doi= 10.1134/s1028334x11090078|access-date=22 September 2015|bibcode = 2011DokES.440.1216O |s2cid=128973374 }}</ref>