Alpine orogeny
The Alpine orogeny, sometimes referred to as the Alpide orogeny, is an orogenic phase in the Late Mesozoic and the current Cenozoic which has formed the mountain ranges of the Alpide belt.
Cause
The Alpine orogeny was caused by the African continent, the Arabian Peninsula, the Indian subcontinent, and the Cimmerian plate colliding with Eurasia in the north. Convergent movements between the African, Arabian and Indian plates from the south, and the Eurasian plate and the Anatolian sub-plate from the north – as well as many smaller plates – had already begun during the early Cretaceous, but the major phases of mountain building began during the Paleocene to the Eocene. The process continues currently in some of the Alpide mountain ranges.The Alpine orogeny is considered one of the three major phases of orogeny in Europe that define the geology of that continent, along with the Caledonian orogeny that formed the Old Red Sandstone Continent when the continents Baltica and Laurentia collided in the early Paleozoic, and the Hercynian or Variscan orogeny that formed Pangaea when Gondwana and the Old Red Sandstone Continent collided in the middle to late Paleozoic.
Mountain ranges
From west to east, mountains include the Atlas, the Rif, the Baetic Cordillera, the Cantabrian Mountains, the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Apennines, the Dinaric Alps, the Albanides, the Pindus, the Carpathians, the Balkanides, the Pontic Mountains, the Taurus, the Antitaurus, the Armenian Highlands, the Caucasus Mountains, the Alborz, the Zagros Mountains, the Hajar, the Hindu Kush, the Pamir, the Karakoram, and the Himalayas.Sometimes other names occur to describe the formation of separate mountain ranges: e.g., "Carpathian orogeny" for the Carpathians, "Hellenic orogeny" for the Pindus, "Altai orogeny" for the Altai Mountains, and "Himalayan orogeny" for the Himalayas.