Salair Folding

an epoch of folding and general activation of tectonic movement and magmatism in the middle and late Cambrian Period. It was identified by the Soviet geologist M. A. Usov in 1936 on the basis of K. V. Radugin’s observations in the Salair Range in Siberia. The folding is extensively manifested in the Altai-Saian mountain region, northern Mongolia, and the western Transbaikal region, where it led to the completion of geosynclinal submersions.

The German geologist H. Stille established the equivalent of the Salair folding in Europe, the Sardic phase of folding, which is known on the Iberian Peninsula, the Armoricain Massif in northwestern France, and elsewhere. Outside of Eurasia, the Salair folding was most intensive in Antarctica (the Ross folding of the Transantarctic Mountains) and in southwestern Australia. The tectonic and magmatic activation of the same time is manifested within the Libyan-Nigerian and Arabian-Mozambique belts of the Afro-Arabian Shield, in the western part of the South American Shield, and in the southern part of the Indian Shield, including the islands of Sri Lanka and Madagascar.