The Musgrave
orogeny
Orogeny () is a mountain-mountain formation, building process that takes place at a convergent boundary, convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An or develops as the compressed plate crumples and is tectonic uplift, u ...
was one of three
Mesoproterozoic
The Mesoproterozoic Era is a geologic era that occurred from . The Mesoproterozoic was the first era of Earth's history for which a fairly definitive geological record survives. Continents existed during the preceding era (the Paleoproterozoic ...
orogenic events affecting the Musgrave Province in Central Australia between 1.22 and 1.12 billion years ago. Earlier, 1.29 billion years ago the Musgrave Province formed as the North, West and South Australian
cratons
A craton ( , , or ; from "strength") is an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere, which consists of Earth's two topmost layers, the crust and the uppermost mantle. Having often survived cycles of merging and rifting of continen ...
converged. The
granites
Granite ( ) is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies under ...
of the Pitjantjatjara Supersuite intruded during the event at high temperatures above 1000 degrees Celsius. The event is interpreted as an intracontinental orogeny due to significant upwelling of heat and material from the
mantle.
See also
*
List of orogenies
*
Geology of Australia
The geology of Australia includes virtually all known list of rock types, rock types, spanning a geological time period of over 3.8 billion years, including some of the oldest rocks on earth. Australia is a continent situated on the Indo-Aust ...
References
Orogenies of Australia
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