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Concept information

geographical area > Paratethys

Preferred term

Paratethys  

Definition

  • The Paratethys sea, Paratethys ocean, Paratethys realm or just Paratethys was a large shallow inland sea that stretched from the region north of the Alps over Central Europe to the Aral Sea in Central Asia. Paratethys was peculiar due to its paleogeography: it consisted of a series of deep basins, formed during the Oxfordian stage of the Late Jurassic as an extension of the rift that formed the Central Atlantic Ocean. These basins were connected with each other and the global ocean by narrow and shallow seaways that often limited water exchange and caused widespread long-term anoxia. Paratethys was at times reconnected with the Tethys or its successors (the Mediterranean Sea or the Indian Ocean) during the Oligocene and the early and middle Miocene times, but at the onset of the late Miocene epoch, the tectonically trapped sea turned into a megalake from the eastern Alps to what is now Kazakhstan. From the Pliocene epoch onward (after 5 million years ago), Paratethys became progressively shallower. Today's Black Sea, Caspian Sea, Aral Sea, Lake Urmia, Namak Lake and others are remnants of the Paratethys Sea. (Adapted from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paratethys)

Broader concept

Entry terms

  • Paratethys ocean
  • Paratethys sea

In other languages

  • French

  • mer Paratéthys
  • mer Sarmatique
  • océan Paratéthys

URI

http://data.loterre.fr/ark:/67375/QX8-WGS4X01S-L

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