Abstract Twelve time-interval maps have been presented that depict the plate-tectonic configuration, paleogeography, and lithofacies for the circum-Carpathian area from the Late Carboniferous through Neogene and for the circum-Ouachita region from the Late Cambrian through Early Permian. The following geodynamic evolution stages can be distinguished in these two orogens:-stage I: rifting of terranes off the major continent, forming oceanic basins, Triassic–Early Cretaceous in the Carpathian region, Cambrian–Devonian in the Ouachita basin; stage II: formation of subduction zones along the active margin, partial closing of the oceanic basin, development of flysch basin associated with this rifting on the platform (passive margin) with the attenuated crust, Late Cretaceous–Paleocene in the Carpathian region, Early Carboniferous in the Ouachitas; stage III: collision, perhaps terrane-continent, with the accompanying convergence of two large continents, development of accretionary prisms, the Eocene–early Miocene in the Carpathian region, Late Carboniferous in the Ouachitas; stage IV: postcollisional, Miocene–present–future(?) in the Carpathians, Permian–Triassic in the Ouachitas. Both Carpathians and Ouachitas are an accretionary prism formed in response to terrane-continent and continent-continent collision. The paleogeographic approach we have taken shows how these mountain belts were constructed through the orogenic cycle, which reflects complex plate-tectonic processes. The Carpathians and Ouachitas record complete and homologous Wilson cycles. Copyright ©2006. The American Association of Petroleum Geologists. DOI:10.1306/985629M841463