Faults and Earthquakes - Earthquake Engineering for Structural Design - page 192

Figure 6.11 Earthquakes extension in South America (after Bird, 2003)
6.3.3 Crustal Collision Earthquakes
The continental collision is a variation of the fundamental process of subduction,
where the subduction zone is destroyed. This form of continental genesis happens
when the consummation of an ocean basin is complete and the continental margins
of the ocean enter into collision. When two continental plates, with the same
thickness and weight, converge, instead of having a true subduction, as presented
in the above section, the edges crumple, the two continents suture together, a great
uplift occurs and the formation of a large mountain chain results (Fig. 6.11). This
process of mountain building is studied by Orogeny (meaning mountain generating
from the ancient Greek) (Wikipedia, nd), which is a science studying the processes
of crustal uplift, folding and faulting which form the systems of mountains. The
Orogeny usually produces long linear mountains, known as an orogenic belt. Due
to the fact that the convergence between the continents continues, the mountains
grow and the earthquakes in collision faults continue to be frequent events.