Kimmerian Orogeny

(or Kimmerian folding; from the “Cimmerians” or “Kimmerians”), the principal period during which the tectonic processes of folding, orogeny, and granitoid intrusive magmatism manifested themselves in the Mesozoic era. Two phases of Kimmerian orogeny are distinguished: early Kimmerian (paleo-Kimmerian), which occurred at the end of the Triassic and the beginning of the Jurassic, and late Kimmerian (neo-Kimmerian), which occurred at the end of the Jurassic and the beginning of the Cretaceous. The early Kimmerian orogeny manifested itself in the Crimea, northern Dobruja, Taimyr, northern Afghanistan, Southeast Asia, the Patagonian Andes, northeastern Argentina, and in the southernmost part of Africa. The late Kimmerian orogeny manifested itself in the Verkhoiano-Chukchi region (the Kolyma orogeny), the Western Cordilleras of North America (the Nevadian orogeny), the Andes (the Andean orogeny), as well as in the central and south-eastern Pamirs, the Karakoram, central Iran, the Caucasus, and other areas.