Laramidia

Laramidia was an island continent that existed during the Late Cretaceous period (99.6–66 Ma), when the Western Interior Seaway split the continent of North America in two. In the Mesozoic era, Laramidia was an island land mass separated from Appalachia to the east by the Western Interior Seaway. The seaway eventually shrank, split across the Dakotas, and retreated toward the Gulf of Mexico and the Hudson Bay. The masses joined, forming the continent of North America.

Laramidia is named after the Laramide orogeny. The name was coined by J. David Archibald in 1996.^[1]

^ Archibald, J. David (1996). Dinosaur extinction and the end of an era: what the fossils say. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 023107624X.

[1] Archibald, J. David (1996). Dinosaur extinction and the end of an era: what the fossils say. New York: Columbia University Press. ISBN 023107624X.

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