Iapetus Ocean
It has been suggested that the coeval Famatinian orogeny in Western Gondwana (South America) is the "southward" continuation of the Taconic orogeny. This has been explained by adding that the continent Laurentia could have collided with Western Gondwana in early Paleozoic times due to the closure of the Iapetus Ocean. According to this view the Cuyania terrane would be an allochtonous block of Laurentian origin that was left in Gondwana. But such views are not unchallenged since Cuyania is alternatively suggested to have drifted across Iapetus Ocean as a microcontinent starting in Laurentia and accreting then to Gondwana. Further a third model claims Cuyania is para-autochthonous and arrived at its current place by strike-slip faults starting not from Laurentia but from Gondwana.