The ancient Tethys superocean formed the Central Asian mountain range.

According to new research, the ancient superocean Tethys influenced the formation and disappearance of mountain ranges in Central Asia during the Cretaceous period.

Geologists at the University of Adelaide (Australia) have published research showing that the disappearance of the Tethys Ocean during the Cretaceous period – the golden age of dinosaurs – caused a series of mountain ranges in Central Asia to form and then vanish. Photo: Shutterstock.

Tethys was a superocean that began to form approximately 250 million years ago, at the end of the Dichotomy and beginning of the Triassic periods, the same era that marked the start of the dinosaur age. Photo: Stijn Glorie.

During the age of dinosaurs, the Tethys Ocean stretched between major continents and played a central role in global tectonic plate movements. Photo: Nadezhda Bolotina/Shutterstock.

The shrinking of the Tethys Ocean during the Meso-Cenozoic era – the Mesozoic and Cenozoic geological periods – spanning 250 million years, caused widespread tectonic changes across the Eurasian continent. Photo: National Park Service.

Although Tethys has disappeared, leaving only the Mediterranean Sea, the influence of this ancient super-ocean seems to be preserved in the ancient mountain ranges of Central Asia. Photo: Google Earth.

"The current topography of Central Asia was largely formed by the continuous collision and convergence of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates," co-author Stijn Glorie said. Photo: blogs.worldbank.org.

During the Cretaceous period, as the Tethys Ocean shrank, the retreat of subducting tectonic plates reactivated old fault zones as far away as Central Asia, thousands of kilometers from the coast. Photo: AMAL NADIAH GHAZALI.

This process caused the mountain ranges to "grow," increasing their height by thousands of meters as we see them today. Photo: central-asia.guide.

Readers are invited to watch the video: Behind the success of scientists . Source: VTV24.

Source: https://khoahocdoisong.vn/sieu-dai-duong-co-dai-tethys-hinh-thanh-day-nui-trung-a-post2149086757.html