The Timanide Orogen (russian: Ороген Протоуралид-Тиманид, literally: "Protouralian–Timanide Orogen") is a pre-Uralian

orogen An orogenic belt, or orogen, is a zone of Earth's crust affected by orogeny. An orogenic belt develops when a continental plate crumples and is uplifted to form one or more mountain ranges; this involves a series of geological processes collecti ...

that formed in northeastern

Baltica Baltica is a paleocontinent that formed in the Paleoproterozoic and now constitutes northwestern Eurasia, or Europe north of the Trans-European Suture Zone and west of the Ural Mountains. The thick core of Baltica, the East European Craton, ...

during the

Neoproterozoic The Neoproterozoic Era is the unit of geologic time from 1 billion to 538.8 million years ago. It is the last era of the Precambrian Supereon and the Proterozoic Eon; it is subdivided into the Tonian, Cryogenian, and Ediacaran periods. It is prec ...

in the Timanide orogeny. The orogen is about 3000 km long. Its extreme points include the southern

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

in the south and the

Polar Urals The Polar Urals (russian: Полярный Урал) are a mountain range in the western part of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and the northeastern part of Komi, Russian Federation. The border between Europe and Asia runs along the main ridg ...

, the Kanin and Varanger peninsulas in the north. The

Timan Ridge The Timan Ridge (russian: Тиманский кряж – ''Timansky Kryazh'') is a highland in the far north of European Russia. Most of the Timan Ridge is situated in the Komi Republic, but the northernmost part is in Nenets Autonomous Okrug a ...

is the type area of the orogen. To the west, at the Varanger Peninsula, the north-west oriented Timanide Orogen is truncated by the younger Scandinavian Caledonide Orogen that has an oblique disposition. The northeastern parts of the orogen are made up of volcanic and sedimentary rocks, granitoids and few

ophiolite An ophiolite is a section of Earth's oceanic crust and the underlying upper mantle that has been uplifted and exposed above sea level and often emplaced onto continental crustal rocks. The Greek word ὄφις, ''ophis'' (''snake'') is found ...

s. In contrast the southwestern part of the orogen is made up mostly of

sedimentary rock Sedimentary rocks are types of rock that are formed by the accumulation or deposition of mineral or organic particles at Earth's surface, followed by cementation. Sedimentation is the collective name for processes that cause these particles ...

s. I and A type

granitoid A granitoid is a generic term for a diverse category of coarse-grained igneous rocks that consist predominantly of quartz, plagioclase, and alkali feldspar. Granitoids range from plagioclase-rich tonalites to alkali-rich syenites and from quartz- ...

s and

volcanic rock Volcanic rock (often shortened to volcanics in scientific contexts) is a rock formed from lava erupted from a volcano. In other words, it differs from other igneous rock by being of volcanic origin. Like all rock types, the concept of volcanic ...

s are common in the orogen. From the Late Neoproterozoic o the

Middle Cambrian Middle or The Middle may refer to: * Centre (geometry), the point equally distant from the outer limits. Places * Middle (sheading), a subdivision of the Isle of Man * Middle Bay (disambiguation) * Middle Brook (disambiguation) * Middle Creek ...

the Timanide Orogen was associated to a subduction zone that existed to the northeast of it. Most studies interpret subduction as going inward (subducted

plate Plate may refer to: Cooking * Plate (dishware), a broad, mainly flat vessel commonly used to serve food * Plates, tableware, dishes or dishware used for setting a table, serving food and dining * Plate, the content of such a plate (for example: ...

moving southwest) albeit one suggest the opposite (subducted plate moving to the northeast). In the Cambrian the Timanide Orogen is believed to have developed in a continental collision context as Baltica and

Arctida Arctica or Arctida was an ancient continent which formed approximately 2.565 billion years ago in the Neoarchean era. It was made of Archaean cratons, including the Siberian Craton, with its Anabar/Aldan shields in Siberia, and the Sla ...

collided between 528 and 510 million years ago. Some researchers do however dissent from this view suggesting there was never such a collision.

Erosion Erosion is the action of surface processes (such as water flow or wind) that removes soil, rock, or dissolved material from one location on the Earth's crust, and then transports it to another location where it is deposited. Erosion is dis ...

of the Timanide Orogen have produced

sediment Sediment is a naturally occurring material that is broken down by processes of weathering and erosion, and is subsequently transported by the action of wind, water, or ice or by the force of gravity acting on the particles. For example, sa ...

s that are now found in the

East European Platform East European Platform or Russian Platform is a large and flat area covered by sediments in Eastern Europe spanning from the Ural Mountains to the Tornquist Zone and from the Caspian Depression, Peri-Caspian Basin to the Barents Sea. Over geologic ...

, including the Cambrian Sablino Formation near Lake Ladoga. Studies of sediments points that it is likely that the erosion of the orogen was beginning in the Cambrian and then became stronger in

Ordovician The Ordovician ( ) is a geologic period and system, the second of six periods of the Paleozoic Era. The Ordovician spans 41.6 million years from the end of the Cambrian Period million years ago (Mya) to the start of the Silurian Period Mya. T ...

. The first geologists to study the orogen where

Wilhelm Ramsay Wilhelm Ramsay (20 January 1865 – 6 January 1928) was a Finland Swede geologist. He became a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1914 and in 1915 was accepted into the Royal Physiographic Society in Lund. He coined the terms Fen ...

and Feodosy Tschernyschev who published works in 1899 and 1901 respectively. Hans Reusch compiled the existing knowledge on the orogen in 1900.

Note

References

{{Geology of Fennoscandia Orogenies of Europe Barents Sea Geology of Norway Geology of Kazakhstan Geology of European Russia Geology of Russia Neoproterozoic orogenies Neoproterozoic Europe Ediacaran orogenies Cambrian orogenies Cambrian Europe Ural Mountains