orogenous zone

English

Etymology

By analogy to erogenous zone.

Noun

orogenous zone (plural orogenous zones)

(geology, often humorous, by analogy to erogenous zone) A region characterized by mountain-building.
Orogenous zones are usually found along plate boundaries.

The villagers were astonished to learn that they were living in an orogenous zone.
- 1960, M. Palmer, editor, World Petroleum, volume 31, page 65:
  ...an orogenous zone separates a deep subsiding western zone, over 3,000 meters deep, from a more stable eastern zone rising gently to the east.
- 1968, Nevada Historical Society Quarterly, volumes 11-14, page vi:
  The El Dorado-Searchlight area is geologically a north-south trending orogenous zone, paralleled on the east by the valley of the Colorado, and by an alluvial valley on the west.
- 1976, “Geomorphology and Paleogeography”, in Proceedings of the International Geographical Union, page 78:
  Structures due to strata compaction have been identified in the orogenous zone of North-Dobrogea (Independenta), in the Moesic Platform and in the Pannonian Depression (Teremia).
- 2001, Jeff Rovin, Fatalis: a Novel, Macmillan, page 28:
  Grand knew the mountains well, he respected their moods, and above all he enjoyed the challenge of what Tumamait — when he still had a sense of humor — once referred to as "one of the earth's most seductive and temperamental orogenous zones."
- 2008, Gregory S. Babonis, “et al.”, in Using Multi-frequency Synthetic Aperture Radar to Develop Regional-Scale Groundwater Maps, University of Michigan, page 9:
  The NHLR lies within the Northern Highlands region—a relict orogenous zone that has been glacially eroded to form a highland plateau region spanning from Michigan to Minnesota.

Related terms

orogeny