The Iapetus Ocean (/aɪˈæpɪtəs/; eye-AP-ih-təs)[1] existed in the late Neoproterozoic and early Paleozoic eras of the geologic timescale (between 600 and 400 million years ago). It was in the southern hemisphere, between the paleocontinents of Laurentia, Baltica and Avalonia. The ocean disappeared with the Acadian, Caledonian and Taconic orogenies, when these three continents joined to form one big landmass called Euramerica. The "southern" Iapetus Ocean has been proposed to have closed with the Famatinian and Taconic orogenies, meaning a collision between Western Gondwana and Laurentia.
Because the Iapetus Ocean was positioned between continental masses that would at a much later time roughly form the opposite shores of the Atlantic Ocean, it can be seen as a sort of precursor of the Atlantic, and the process by which it opened shares many similarities with that of the Atlantic's initial opening in the Jurassic.[2] The Iapetus Ocean was therefore named for the titan Iapetus, who in Greek mythology was the father of Atlas, after whom the Atlantic Ocean was named.[A]
- ^ Wells, John (14 April 2010). "Iapetus and tonotopy". John Wells's phonetic blog. Archived from the original on 25 December 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2010.
- ^ Rankin, Douglas W. (10 November 1976). "Appalachian salients and recesses: Late Precambrian continental breakup and the opening of the Iapetus Ocean". Journal of Geophysical Research. 81 (32): 5605–5619. Bibcode:1976JGR....81.5605R. doi:10.1029/JB081i032p05605. Retrieved 9 November 2022.
- ^ Banham, P.H.; Gibbs, A.D.; Hopper, F.W.M. (1979). "Geological evidence in favour of a Jotunheimen Caledonian suture". Nature. 277 (5694): 289–291. Bibcode:1979Natur.277..289B. doi:10.1038/277289a0. S2CID 4360636.
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