Turgai Sea
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The Turgai (or Turgay) Sea or Turgai Strait, also known as the West Siberian Sea, was a large shallow body of salt water (an epicontinental or epeiric sea) of the Mesozoic and Cenozoic Eras. It extended north of the present-day Caspian Sea to the "paleo-Arctic" region, and was in existence from Middle Jurassic to Oligocene times, from approximately 160 to 29 million years ago.[1]
The Turgai Sea was not absolutely continuous throughout this entire era, though it was a persistent and predominating feature in its region; it "fragmented southern Europe and southwestern Asia into many large islands, and separated Europe from Asia."[2]
The division of the Eurasian landmass by the Turgai Sea had the effect of isolating animal populations. Perhaps best-known to laypeople were the horned dinosaurs called Ceratopsia of the Cretaceous Period, which were restricted to Asia and western North America (which were connected for much of this era).[3] The existence of the Turgai Sea also restricted various freshwater fish and amphibians.
The Turgai Sea derives its name from a region of modern-day Kazakhstan, with its Turgai River and Turgai Valley.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Briggs, John C. Global Biogeography. Amsterdam, Elsevier Science, 1995; pp. 71, 76, 84, 88, and ff.
- ^ Duellman, William Edward. Biology of Amphibians. Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1994; p. 480.
- ^ Culver, Stephen J., and Peter Franklin Rawson. Biotic Response to Global Change: The Last 145 Million Years. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2000; p. 319.
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