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Epeiric Sea
 
 
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An epeiric sea (also known as an epicontinental sea) is a large shallow sea
SEA

See also: Sea and seasThe three-letter acronym SEA may refer to:People/organizations/businesses*Scientists and Engineers for America, a pro-science political advocacy group....
 that either extends far into a continent
Continent

A continent is one of several large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents ? they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia ....
, such as the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in the Southwest Asian region, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Historically and commonly known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is sometimes Persian Gulf naming dispute referred to as the Arabian Gulf by certain Arab countries or simply The Gulf, although nei...
, or overlies a large part of a continent.

Epeiric seas are usually associated with the marine
Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology....
 transgressions
Transgression (geology)

A marine transgression is a geology event during which sea level rises relative to the land and the shoreline moves toward higher ground, resulting in flooding....
 of the early (and current) Cenozoic era and may be semi-cyclic—during eras of glacial recession given a period of low mountains coupled with a warming under the influence of plate tectonics
Plate tectonics

Plate tectonics describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere. The theory encompasses the older concepts of continental drift, developed during the first decades of the 20th century by Alfred Wegener, and seafloor spreading, understood during the 1960s....
.






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An epeiric sea (also known as an epicontinental sea) is a large shallow sea
SEA

See also: Sea and seasThe three-letter acronym SEA may refer to:People/organizations/businesses*Scientists and Engineers for America, a pro-science political advocacy group....
 that either extends far into a continent
Continent

A continent is one of several large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents ? they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia ....
, such as the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf, in the Southwest Asian region, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula. Historically and commonly known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is sometimes Persian Gulf naming dispute referred to as the Arabian Gulf by certain Arab countries or simply The Gulf, although nei...
, or overlies a large part of a continent.

Epeiric seas are usually associated with the marine
Marine (ocean)

Marine is an umbrella term. As an adjective it is usually applicable to things relating to the sea or ocean, such as marine biology, marine ecology and marine geology....
 transgressions
Transgression (geology)

A marine transgression is a geology event during which sea level rises relative to the land and the shoreline moves toward higher ground, resulting in flooding....
 of the early (and current) Cenozoic era and may be semi-cyclic—during eras of glacial recession given a period of low mountains coupled with a warming under the influence of plate tectonics
Plate tectonics

Plate tectonics describes the large scale motions of Earth's lithosphere. The theory encompasses the older concepts of continental drift, developed during the first decades of the 20th century by Alfred Wegener, and seafloor spreading, understood during the 1960s....
. They can be warm or cold; indeed, several were present at the end of the last Ice Age
Ice age

The general term "ice age" or, more precisely, "glacial age" denotes a geological period of long-term reduction in the temperature of the Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in an expansion of continental ice sheets, polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers....
, when sea level
Sea level

Mean sea level is the average height of the sea, with reference to a suitable reference surface. Defining the reference level , however, involves complex measurement, and accurately determining MSL can prove difficult....
s rose more rapidly than some areas could isostatically
Isostasy

Isostasy is a term used in geology to refer to the state of gravity equilibrium between the earth's lithosphere and asthenosphere such that the tectonic plates "float" at an elevation which depends on their thickness and density....
 adjust. Modern examples are the Persian Gulf, the North Sea
North Sea

The North Sea is a marginal sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf. The Dover Strait and the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Sea in the north connect it to the Atlantic Ocean....
, and Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay is a large , relatively shallow body of water in northeastern Canada. It is approximately 850 miles long and 650 miles wide. It drains a very large area that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana, and the southeastern area of Nunavut...
.

Notable North American examples are the miles of sea-bed deposits
Geologic record

At a certain locality on the Earth's surface, the rock column provides a cross section of the natural history of in the area during the time covered by the age of the rocks....
 east of the Sierra Nevada mountains and west of the continental divide formed by the Rockies
Rocky Mountains

The Rocky Mountains, often called the Rockies, are a mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than 4,800 kilometre from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in Canada, to New Mexico, in the United States....
 carved out by the Colorado River
Colorado River

The Colorado River is a river in the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico, approximately 1,450 mi long, draining a part of the arid regions on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains....
 valley known as the Grand Canyon
Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided gorge carved by the Colorado River in the United States in the state of Arizona....
 and on grander scale, the whole of the interior of the North American continent
Continent

A continent is one of several large landmasses on Earth. They are generally identified by convention rather than any strict criteria, with seven regions commonly regarded as continents ? they are : Asia, Africa, North America, South America, Antarctica, Europe, and Australia ....
al heartlands, from Great Slave Lake
Great Slave Lake

Great Slave Lake is the second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories of Canada , the deepest lake in North America at 614 m , and the List of world's largest lakes lake in the world....
, Great Bear Lake
Great Bear Lake

Great Bear Lake is the largest lake entirely within Canada , the third largest in North America, and the List of world's largest lakes in the world....
 and Hudson Bay
Hudson Bay

Hudson Bay is a large , relatively shallow body of water in northeastern Canada. It is approximately 850 miles long and 650 miles wide. It drains a very large area that includes parts of Ontario, Quebec, Saskatchewan, Alberta, most of Manitoba, parts of North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, and Montana, and the southeastern area of Nunavut...
 above the Arctic Circle
Arctic Circle

The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circle of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. It is the parallel of latitude that runs 66degree 33'39? north of the Equator....
 southerly through the Great Lakes
Great Lakes

The St. Lawrence River Great Lakes are a chain of fresh water lakes located in eastern North America, on the Canada ? United States border. Consisting of Lakes Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie, and Lake Ontario, they form the largest group of freshwater lakes on Earth....
 region westerly through the whole of the Missouri
Missouri

Missouri is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States of the United States bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska....
–Mississippi river
Mississippi River

The Mississippi River is the longest river in the United States, with a length of from its source in Lake Itasca in Minnesota to its mouth in the Gulf of Mexico....
s drainage basin east and north of the Appalachian Mountain range
Appalachian Mountains

The Appalachian Mountains or , often called the Appalachians, are a vast mountain range in eastern North America. Definitions vary on the precise boundaries of the Appalachians....
 including all of Florida
Florida

Florida is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the northeast....
, Georgia
Georgia (U.S. state)

Georgia is a U.S. state in the United States and was one of the original Thirteen Colonies that revolted against United Kingdom rule in the American Revolution....
, Alabama
Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the Southern United States of the United States of America. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west....
, and other southern United States states west to the Rockies and northern Mexico—in other words the entirety of the great plains and bordering hill regions in Canada through to the southern USA. The eastern regions are the areas, not coincidentally, threatened by rising sea levels if global warming melts the next quarter of the remaining ice caps.

Examples

  • Champlain Sea
    Champlain Sea

    The Champlain Sea was a temporary inlet of the Atlantic Ocean, created by the retreating glaciers during the close of the last ice age. The Sea once included lands in what are now the Canadian provinces of Quebec and Ontario, as well as parts of the U.S....
  • Eromanga Sea
  • Sundance Sea
    Sundance Sea

    The Sundance Sea was an Epeiric Sea which existed in North America during the mid to late Jurassic Period of the Mesozoic Era. It was an arm of what is now the Arctic Ocean, and extended through what is now western Canada into the central western United States....
  • Turgai Sea
    Turgai Sea

    The Turgai Sea or Turgai Strait, also known as the West Siberian Sea, was a large shallow body of salt water of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic era s....
  • Tyrrell Sea
    Tyrrell Sea

    The Tyrrell Sea, named for Canada geologist Joseph Tyrrell, is another name for prehistoric Hudson Bay, namely as it existed during the retreat of the Laurentide Ice Sheet....
  • Western Interior Seaway
    Western Interior Seaway

    The Western Interior Seaway, also called the Cretaceous Seaway, the Niobraran Sea, and the North American Inland Sea, was a huge inland sea that split the continent of North America into two halves during most of the mid and late Cretaceous Period ....
  • Zechstein Sea
    Zechstein

    The Zechstein is a unit of sedimentary rock layers of Middle to Late Permian age located in the Permian Basin which stretches from the east coast of England to northern Poland....


See also

  • Inland sea
    Inland Sea

    Formally named the , the Inland Sea is the body of water separating Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu, three of the main islands of Japan. It serves as an international waterway, connecting the Pacific Ocean to the Sea of Japan....
  • Sequence stratigraphy
    Sequence stratigraphy

    Sequence stratigraphy is a relatively new branch of geology that attempts to link subdivide sedimentary deposits into unconformity bound units on a variety of scales and explain these stratal units in terms of control by relative sea-level changes and variations in sediment supply....