Editing Mesozoic (section)

==Paleogeography and tectonics==
Compared to the vigorous convergent plate [[orogeny|mountain-building]] of the late Paleozoic, Mesozoic tectonic deformation was comparatively mild. The sole major Mesozoic orogeny occurred in what is now the [[Arctic]],{{citation needed|date=July 2022}} creating the [[Innuitian orogeny]], the [[Brooks Range]], the [[Verkhoyansk Range|Verkhoyansk]] and [[Cherskiy Range]]s in Siberia, and the [[Khingan Mountains]] in Manchuria.

This orogeny was related to the opening of the [[Arctic Ocean]] and [[Suture (geology)|suturing]] of the [[North China craton|North China]] and Siberian cratons to Asia.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hughes |first1=T. |title=The case for creation of the North Pacific Ocean during the Mesozoic Era |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/0031018275900152 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |date=August 1975 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=1–43 |doi=10.1016/0031-0182(75)90015-2 |bibcode=1975PPP....18....1H |access-date=21 July 2023}}</ref> In contrast, the era featured the dramatic [[Rift|rifting]] of the supercontinent Pangaea, which gradually split into a northern continent, [[Laurasia]], and a southern continent, [[Gondwana]]. This created the [[passive continental margin]] that characterizes most of the [[Atlantic]] coastline (such as along the [[East Coast of the United States|U.S. East Coast]]) today.<ref>Stanley, Steven M. ''Earth System History''. New York: W.H. Freeman and Company, 1999. {{ISBN|0-7167-2882-6}}</ref>

By the end of the era, the continents had rifted into nearly their present forms, though not their present positions. [[Laurasia]] became [[North America]] and [[Eurasia]], while [[Gondwana]] split into [[South America]], [[Africa]], [[Australia]], [[Antarctica]] and the [[South Asia|Indian subcontinent]], which collided with the [[Asia]]n plate during the Cenozoic, giving rise to the [[Himalaya]]s.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}