Bridge River Ocean

The Bridge River Ocean was an ancient ocean that existed between North America and the Insular Islands during the Paleozoic time. Like the earlier Slide Mountain Ocean the Bridge River Ocean had a subduction zone on the ocean floor called the 'Insular Trench'. The closure of the Bridge River Ocean occurred about 115 million years ago, during the mid Cretaceous period.

The namesake of the Bridge River Ocean is the Bridge River in the Canadian province of British Columbia, about 100 miles north of the city of Vancouver.

Lapetus Ocean

The Iapetus Ocean was an ocean that existed in the Southern Hemisphere between Laurentia (Scotland and North America) and Baltica (Scandinavia) between 400 and 600 million years ago. As a sort of precursor of the Atlantic Ocean, it was named for the Titan Iapetus, father - in Greek mythology - of Atlas, for whom that ocean was named.

Panthalassa

Panthalassa (Greek meaning 'all seas'), also known as the Panthalassic Ocean, was the vast global ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea, during the Paleozoic and the early Mesozoic eras. It included the Pacific Ocean to the west and north and the Tethys Ocean to the southeast. It became the Indian and Pacific Oceans, following the closing of the Tethys basin and the breakup of Pangaea, which created the Atlantic and Arctic Ocean basins. The Panthalassa is often called the Paleo-Pacific because the Pacific Ocean evolved from Panthalassa.

Rheic Ocean

The Rheic Ocean was an ocean in the Paleozoic Era that existed between:

- to the north the continent of Baltica (northern Europe) and number of terranes broken off from Gondwana, including Avalonia, the future southern Europe.

- to the south the gigantic paleocontinent of Gondwana, or from the Silurian onward the Hunic terranes that broke off Gondwana.

The Rheic Ocean formed in the Late Cambrian-Early Ordovician as a result of the drift of Avalonia, from the northern margin of Gondwana. It all began with a rift, similar to today's East Africa Rift. This rift flow probably came from Proto-Tethys Ocean's mid-ocean ridge. As this microcontinent drifted from Gondwana, a mid-ocean ridge was forming between them, forcing Avalonia to head across the aging Iapetus Ocean, this occurred in the early part of Middle Ordovician. For much of the Late Ordovician, Rheic Ocean appears to have widened as fast as today's East Pacific Rise (at 17 cm/year). When Baltica and Laurentia collided each other in the Latest Ordovician to form the megacontinent of Euramerica, Rheic ocean had already expanded, replacing most of Iapetus Ocean, which has now become a narrow seaway, between Avalonia and Laurentia. The ocean began to close in the Devonian, when the supercontinent of Gondwana drifted towards Euramerica. By Late Devonian, Rheic Ocean became a narrow ocean that sutured between the Gondwana and Euramerica. In the Early Carboniferous (Mississippian), the eastern part of Rheic Ocean had already closed, due to the collision of Eastern United States with Africa. Later, South America collided against southern United States, completely closing the ocean.

Slide Mountain Ocean

The Slide Mountain Ocean was an ancient ocean that existed between the Intermontane Islands and North America sometime during the Triassic time beginning around 245 million years ago. There was a subduction zone on the Slide Mountain Oceans floor called the Intermontane Trench where the Intermontane Plate was being subducted under North America. The floor of the Slide Mountain Ocean was pushed up onto the ancient margin of North America.

Tethys Ocean

About 250 million years ago, during the late Permian Era, a new ocean began forming in the southern end of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean. A rift formed along the northern continental shelf of Southern Pangaea (Gondwana). Over the next 60 million years, that piece of shelf, known as Cimmeria, traveled north, pushing the floor of the Paleo-Tethys Ocean under the eastern end of Northern Pangaea (Laurasia). The Tethys Ocean formed between Cimmeria and Gondwana, directly over where the Paleo-Tethys used to be.

During the Jurassic Period (150 mya), Cimmeria finally collided with Laurasia. There it stalled, the ocean floor behind it buckling under, forming the Tethyan Trench. Water levels rose and the western Tethys came to shallowly cover significant portions of Europe. Around the same time, Laurasia and Gondwana began drifting apart, leaving the Atlantic Ocean between them. Between the Jurassic and the Cretaceous (100 mya), even Gondwana began breaking up, pushing Africa and India north, across the Tethys. As these land masses pushed in on it from all sides, up until as recently as the Late Miocene (15 mya), the Tethys ocean continued to shrink, becoming the Tethys Seaway or (second) 'Tethys Sea'.

Khanty Ocean

Khanty Ocean was an ancient, small ocean that existed near the end of the Precambrian time to the Silurian. It was between Baltica and the Siberian continent, with the bordering oceans of Panthalassa to the north, Proto-Tethys to the northeast, and Paleo-Tethys to the south and east. The ocean formed when a minor supercontinent of Proto-Laurasia (shortly after the break-up of Pannotia (600 mya)) rifted and created three separated continents - Laurentia, Baltica, and Siberia, the ocean was between Siberia and Baltica. Khanty's sister ocean, Iapetus Ocean also formed, between Laurentia and Baltica. The ocean closed when the an island arc called the Sakmarian Arc collided with Baltica. At the northeastern end of the arc was a new ocean, the Ural Ocean.

Mirovia

Mirovia was an hypothesized paleo-ocean which may have been a global ocean that surrounded the supercontinent Rodinia in the Neoproterozoic Era, about 1 billion to 750 million years ago. The Mirovia may be essentially identical to, or the precursor of, the hypothesized Pan-African Ocean which followed the rifting of Rodinia. The early Pacific Ocean developed in the Neoproterozoic Era at the expense by subduction of the global Mirovia.

Geologic evidence suggests that the middle Neoproterozoic, the Cryogenian period, was an extreme ice age so intense that Mirovia may have been completely frozen to a depth of 2 kilometres. This is the Snowball Earth hypothesis.

Paleo-Tethys Ocean

The Paleo-Tethys Ocean was an ancient Paleozoic ocean. It was located between the paleocontinent Gondwana and the so called Hunic terranes. These are divided into the European Hunic (today the crust under parts of Central Europe (called "Armorica") and Iberia) and Asiatic Hunic (today the crust of China and parts of eastern Central Asia). A large transform fault is supposed to have separated the two terranes. The Paleo-Tethys Ocean began to form when the two small terranes rifted away from Gondwana in the late Ordovician, to begin moving toward Euramerica in the north, in the process the Rheic Ocean between Old Red Sandstone Continent and the Hunic terranes was to disappear. In the Devonian, the eastern part of Paleo-Tethys opened up, when the North and South China microcontinents, moved northward. This caused Proto-Tethys Ocean, a precursor of Paleo-Tethys, to shrink, until the Late Carboniferous, when North China collided with Siberia. In the late Devonian however, a subduction zone developed south of the Hunic terranes, where Paleo-Tethys oceanic crust was subducted. Gondwana started moving north, in the process the western part of the Paleo-Tethys would close.

In the Carboniferous continental collision took place between the Old Red Sandstone Continent and the European Hunic terrane, in North America this is called the Alleghenian orogeny, in Europe the Variscan orogeny. The Rheic Ocean had completely disappeared, and the western Paleo-Tethys was closing.

Proto-Tethys Ocean

The Proto-Tethys Ocean was an ancient ocean that existed from the latest Ediacaran to the Carboniferous. It was an ocean predecessor of the later Paleo-Tethys Ocean. The ocean formed when Pannotia disintegrated, Proto-Laurasia (Laurentia, Baltica, and Siberia) rifted away from a supercontinent that will become Gondwana, it formed between them. However, before the start of the Paleozoic Era, Proto-Laurasia, separated into three separate continents, Laurentia, Baltica, and Siberia, opening the Iapetus Ocean (an ocean between Baltica and Laurentia), and Khanty Ocean (an ocean between Baltica and Siberia). The ocean was bordered by Panthalassic Ocean to the north, separating it from Panthalassa by island arcs and Kazakhstania. Proto-Tethys expanded during Cambrian. The ocean was at its widest during the Late Ordovician to Middle Silurian. The ocean was situated between the Siberia to the west, and Gondwana to the east. The ocean began to shrink during the Late Silurian, when North China, and South China moved away from Gondwana and headed north, and during Late Devonian. The microcontinent of Kazakhstania collided with Siberia, shrinking the ocean further. The ocean closed when the North China collided with Siberia-Kazakstania continent in the Carboniferous, while the Paleo-Tethys Ocean expanded.

Pan-African Ocean

The Pan-African Ocean is an hypothesized paleo-ocean that surrounded the supercontinent of Pannotia. The ocean may have existed before the break-up of a supercontinent of Rodinia. The ocean closed before the beginning of the Phanerozoic Eon, when the Panthalassa ocean expanded, and was eventually replaced by it.

Superocean

A superocean is an ocean which surrounds a supercontinent. It is less commonly defined as any ocean larger than the current Pacific Ocean. Named global superoceans include Mirovia, which surrounded the supercontinent Rodinia, and Panthalassa, which surrounded the supercontinent Pangaea. Pannotia and Columbia, along with landmasses before Columbia (such as Ur), were also surrounded by superoceans.

As surface water moves unobstructed east to west in superoceans, it tends to warm from the exposure to sunlight so that the western edge of the ocean is warmer than the eastern. Additionally, seasonal changes in temperature, which would have been significantly more rapid inland, probably caused powerful monsoons. In general, however, the mechanics of superoceans are not well understood.

Ural Ocean

Ural Ocean was a small, ancient ocean that was situated between Siberia and Baltica. The ocean formed in the Late Ordovician epoch, when large islands from Siberia collided with Baltica, which was now part of a minor supercontinent of Euramerica. The islands also caused Ural Ocean's precursor, Khanty Ocean to close. By the Devonian Period, however, Ural Ocean begins to shrink because the Siberian continent and Kazakhstania microcontinent were closing in to Baltica. In the Latest Devonian to Mississipian periods, Ural Ocean became a seaway. Until the three collided in the Carboniferous, it created the Ural Mountains, completely closing the ocean, and forming the Pangaea supercontinent.