TheGondwanide orogeny was anorogeny active in thePermian that affected parts ofGondwana that are by current geography now located in southernSouth America,South Africa,Antarctica,Australia andNew Guinea.[1] The zone of deformation in Argentina extends as a belt south and west of thecratonic nucleus ofRío de la Plata–Pampia.[2]The deformation of the orogeny is visible in theSierra de la Ventana mountains in Argentina and theCape Fold Belt in South Africa. The Gondwanide orogeny might have been linked with the roughly contemporarySan Rafael orogeny of western Argentina.[1]
The Gondwanide orogeny is the successor to theNeoproterozoic-PaleozoicTerra Australis orogeny in Gondwana.[3]
The Gondwanide orogeny was widespread across the southern hemisphere during theLate Permian-Early Triassic.Alexander du Toit described Gondwanide deformation as consisting of asymmetric folding, thrusting and cleavage formation. The uplift and erosion which followed is evidenced by anunconformity across Africa and South America. It is related to the breakup of Gondwanaland.[4]
Following the Gondwanide orogeny southwestern Gondwana entered a period ofextensional tectonics andcrustal thinning leading to formation of variousrift basins (e.g.Cuyo Basin) in the Triassic.[5][note 1]
Major South American geological features | |||||
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| Tectonic plates |  | ||||
| Cratons andshields | |||||
| Structures undergoingsubduction | |||||
| Faults andshear zones | |||||
| Rifts andgrabens | |||||
| Sedimentary basins | |||||
| Orogenies | |||||
| Metallogenetic provinces | |||||
| Volcanism |
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