Editing Carboniferous (section)

=== Variscan-Alleghanian-Ouachita orogeny ===
The Central Pangean Mountains were formed during the [[Variscan orogeny|Variscan]]-[[Alleghanian orogeny|Alleghanian]]-[[Ouachita orogeny|Ouachita]] orogeny. Today their remains stretch over 10,000&nbsp;km from the [[Gulf of Mexico]] in the west to [[Turkey]] in the east.<ref name="Nance-2010">{{Cite journal |last1=Nance |first1=R. Damian |last2=Gutiérrez-Alonso |first2=Gabriel |last3=Keppie |first3=J. Duncan |last4=Linnemann |first4=Ulf |last5=Murphy |first5=J. Brendan |last6=Quesada |first6=Cecilio |last7=Strachan |first7=Rob A. |last8=Woodcock |first8=Nigel H. |date=March 2010 |title=Evolution of the Rheic Ocean |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S1342937X09001543 |journal=Gondwana Research |language=en |volume=17 |issue=2–3 |pages=194–222 |bibcode=2010GondR..17..194N |doi=10.1016/j.gr.2009.08.001}}</ref> The orogeny was caused by a series of continental collisions between Laurussia, Gondwana and the [[Armorican terrane|Armorican terrane assemblage]] (much of modern-day Central and Western Europe including [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberia]]) as the [[Rheic Ocean]] closed and Pangea formed. This mountain building process began in the Middle Devonian and continued into the early Permian.<ref name="Domeier-2014">{{Cite journal |last1=Domeier |first1=Mathew |last2=Torsvik |first2=Trond H. |date=2014-05-01 |title=Plate tectonics in the late Paleozoic |journal=Geoscience Frontiers |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=303–350 |bibcode=2014GeoFr...5..303D |doi=10.1016/j.gsf.2014.01.002 |issn=1674-9871 |doi-access=free}}</ref>

The Armorican [[terrane]]s [[rift]]ed away from Gondwana during the Late [[Ordovician]]. As they drifted northwards the Rheic Ocean closed in front of them, and they began to collide with southeastern Laurussia in the Middle Devonian.<ref name="Domeier-2014" /> The resulting Variscan orogeny involved a complex series of oblique collisions with associated [[metamorphism]], [[Igneous rock|igneous]] activity, and large-scale [[Deformation (geology)|deformation]] between these terranes and Laurussia, which continued into the Carboniferous.<ref name="Domeier-2014" />

During the mid Carboniferous, the South American sector of Gondwana collided obliquely with Laurussia's southern margin resulting in the Ouachita orogeny.<ref name="Domeier-2014" /> The major [[Fault (geology)|strike-slip faulting]] that occurred between Laurussia and Gondwana extended eastwards into the [[Appalachian Mountains]] where early deformation in the Alleghanian orogeny was predominantly strike-slip. As the West African sector of Gondwana collided with Laurussia during the Late Pennsylvanian, deformation along the Alleghanian orogen became northwesterly-directed [[Compression (geology)|compression]].<ref name="Torsvik-2017" /><ref name="Nance-2010" />