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Tethys Sea
The Tethys Sea is a shallow inland body of water postulated to have once existed between Laurasia and Gondwana, the geological ancestor of the modern Mediterranean, Black, Caspian and Aral Seas.
Historical theory
In 1893, using fossil records from the Alps and Africa, Eduard Suess first proposed the theory that such a sea had existed. He named it the Tethys Sea, after the Greek sea goddess Tethys. The development of a theory of plate tectonics later disproved or overrode many parts of Suess's theory, even determining the existence of an earlier body of water called the Tethys Ocean. However, Suess's overall concept was still relatively accurate and remarkably imaginative for its day. He is credited with the discovery of both the Tethys Sea and the Tethys Ocean.
Modern theory
According to current theory, the sea that Suess originally imagined did indeed exist late in the Miocene period (20 Ma), but had existed in various forms long before that. In the late Jurassic (150 Ma), when Laurasia and Gondwana began to splinter into masses resembling the continents we see today, Africa began turning counter-clockwise and India sped northeastward over the eastern end of the Tethys Ocean. As that part of the Tethys Ocean disappeared under Cimmeria, the relatively shallow area in the western end of the Tethys Ocean opened onto the growing Atlantic Ocean, forming the Tethys Sea (or 'Tethys Seaway'). Over the next 120 million years, the Tethys Sea shrank further, closed in an all sides by Africa, Saudi Arabia and Europe, eventually becoming the Mediterranean, Black, Caspian and Aral Seas.
Confusion of terminologies
Like every science, geology is a continuously evolving system of theories, and the terms used to describe various pre-historic formations have fluctuated as more accurate theories have emerged. Even today, many sources use "Tethys Ocean" to refer to the "Tethys Sea" and vice versa. Some even refer to the growing Atlantic Ocean during Jurassic as the Tethys Sea.
Referenced By
Pakicetids | Solnhofen limestone | Tethys Ocean
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