Cadomian Orogeny

The Cadomian orogeny (also Pan-African orogeny Assyntische or ) is a mountain building phase, which led during the Upper Proterozoic before about 650-550 million years ago on the north coast of Gondwana and the ( later ) the eastern edge of Baltica to form a Akkretionsorogens. This finding is interpreted as indicating the existence of a supercontinent called Rodinia, or its successor Pannotia, which fell apart before the end of the Proterozoic in four continents: Gondwana, Laurentia, Baltica and Sibiria.

In the areas with cadomischer folding Cambrian strata lie unconformably on folded Proterozoic strata.

The term Cadomia referred only part of the verfalteten in the period regions on the edge of North Gondwana ( Armorica, Saxothuringian and Tepla - Barrandian units but not Avalonia ). In this area basement rocks, folded northern Gondwana occurred in the early Paleozoic to a strong grave formation and during the Ordovician and Silurian succession broke the micro- continents of Avalonia and Armorica, meanwhile, shattered -Terra Group from. Later in the Caledonian orogeny and Variscan these micro- continents should be welded to the northern continents Baltica and Laurentia, forming the foundation of today's Western and Central Europe and parts of the east coast of North America.

It is named after Cadomus, the Latin name of the northern French town of Caen. The term was first used discordance cadomienne of Léon Bertrand in 1921.