Tethys Sea
Ancient Pangaea waterway
The Tethys Sea was an ancient ocean that existed between the supercontinents of Laurasia and Gondwana, roughly where the Mediterranean lies today.
It began forming around 250 million years ago and gradually closed as Africa and India drifted northward into Eurasia.
The Mediterranean, Black, Caspian, and Aral seas are its remnants.
In geology, Tethys explains why marine fossils appear in the Himalayas and Alps—these mountain ranges rose from its former seabed.
- PangaeaPrehistoric unified landmass
- GondwanaAncient southern supercontinent
- ancientVery old indeed
- oceanMassive saltwater body
- MesozoicAge of Reptiles
geological time · seaway · Mediterranean · fossils · ammonites · continental drift · tectonic plates · plate tectonics · mountain building · Triassic · Jurassic · Cretaceous · shallow · tropical · limestone · fossil beds · marine · marine life
- Ancient EarthPangaea, Gondwana, supercontinent, continental drift, ice age
- Triassicarchosaurs, pterosaurs, ichthyosaurs, Pangaea, Pangea
- tectonicsplate tectonics, tectonic plates, tectonic plate, subduction, plate boundaries
- ancient seastrilobites, ammonites, superocean
- paleogeographyPangaea, paleogeography, Gondwana, supercontinent, continental drift
- Tethys Ocean
Tethys SeaMediterranean Sea
Intercontinental landlocked water body
Arctic Ocean · Southern Ocean · Antarctic Ocean · polar seas · Black Sea
sea, seas, seaward, seaborne, seafarer, seafaring, seabed, seascape, seaside