The Samfrau Geosyncline or Samfrau Orogeny is an

orogenic Orogeny () is a mountain-building process that takes place at a convergent plate margin when plate motion compresses the margin. An or develops as the compressed plate crumples and is uplifted to form one or more mountain ranges. This involv ...

belt that was active in the

Palaeozoic The Paleozoic ( , , ; or Palaeozoic) Era is the first of three geological eras of the Phanerozoic Eon. Beginning 538.8 million years ago (Ma), it succeeds the Neoproterozoic (the last era of the Proterozoic Eon) and ends 251.9 Ma at the start of ...

and early

Mesozoic The Mesozoic Era is the Era (geology), era of Earth's Geologic time scale, geological history, lasting from about , comprising the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous Period (geology), Periods. It is characterized by the dominance of archosaurian r ...

Gondwanaland Gondwana ( ; ) was a large landmass, sometimes referred to as a supercontinent. The remnants of Gondwana make up around two-thirds of today's continental area, including South America, Africa, Antarctica, Australia, Zealandia, Arabia, and the ...

, formed by small

terrane In geology, a terrane (; in full, a tectonostratigraphic terrane) is a crust fragment formed on a tectonic plate (or broken off from it) and accreted or " sutured" to crust lying on another plate. The crustal block or fragment preserves its d ...

s and deep accumulations of old sediment dumped off the continent's edge by erosion, accreting against the Pacific-side coast of Gondwanaland due to

subduction Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second p ...

. Its name (as "Samfrau

Geosyncline A geosyncline (originally called a geosynclinal) is an obsolete geology, geological concept to explain orogeny, orogens, which was developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, before the theory of plate tectonics was envisaged.#Sengor1982, ...

") was coined by

Alexander du Toit Alexander Logie du Toit FRS ( ; 14 March 1878 – 25 February 1948) was a geologist from South Africa and an early supporter of Alfred Wegener's theory of continental drift. Early life and education Du Toit was born in Newlands, Cape Town i ...

. Parts of it exist now in northern

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean (also known as the Antarctic Ocean), it contains the geographic South Pole. ...

, and part of the east coast region of

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, as shown i
this map

References

*
Flood basalts subduction and the break-up of Gondwanaland
', K.G. Cox, Department of Geology and Mineralogy,

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

, on www.neotectonica.ufpr.br (16 September 2011) *
Gondwanide continental collision and the origin of Patagonia
', R.J. Pankhurst, C.W. Rapela, C.M. Fanning, M. Márquez, Earth Sci Rev 76(3-4):235-257 (June 2006)

External links

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Orogenies of Antarctica Orogenies of Australia Orogenies of South America Paleozoic orogenies Mesozoic orogenies {{orogeny-stub