Geology of Russia - Ural Orogen

Ural Orogen

The Ural Mountains, a 2,500 kilometre (1,600 mi) long mountain chain that runs north-south at approximately 60° E longitude, formed in the Ural orogeny, a long series of mountain-building events occurring at the eastern margin of what is now the East European craton in association with its collision with another microcontinent (the Kazakhstania terrane) to the east. The first phase of orogenic development occurred in the late Devonian and early Carboniferous, when volcanic island arcs developed and accreted to the continental margin. During the subsequent collision stage, extensive folding, faulting, and metamorphism occurred. Deformation during the collision stage propagated from the south northwards, reaching the Pay-Khoy mountains during the Jurassic. The strong influence of strike-slip movements during the orogeny caused the unusual straightness of the mountain chain.