Tethys Seaway

The Tethys Ocean (Ancient Greek: Τηθύς), Tethys Sea or Neotethys was an ocean during much of the Mesozoic era located between the ancient continents of Gondwana and Laurasia, before the opening of the Indian and Atlantic oceans during the Cretaceous period.

The name stems from the mythological Greek Sea Goddess Tethys, sister and consort of Oceanus, mother of the great rivers, lakes and fountains of the world and of the Oceanid sea nymphs.

The eastern part of the Tethys Ocean is sometimes referred to as Eastern Tethys. The western part of the Tethys Ocean is called Tethys Sea, Western Tethys Ocean or Paratethysor Alpine Tethys Ocean. The Black, Caspian and Aral Seas are thought to be its crustal remains, though the Black Sea may in fact be a remnant of the older Paleo-Tethys Ocean. The Western Tethys was not simply a single open ocean. It covered many small plates, Cretaceous island arcs and microcontinents. Many small Oceanic basins (Valais Ocean, Piemont-Liguria Ocean, Meliata Ocean) were separated from each other by continental terranes on the Alboran, Iberian, and Apulian plates. The high sea level in the Mesozoic era flooded most of these continental domains, forming shallow seas. As theories have improved, scientists have extended the "Tethys" name to refer to 3 similar oceans that preceded it, separating the continental terranes : in Asia, the Paleo-Tethys (Devonian–Triassic), Meso-Tethys (late Early Permian–Late Cretaceous) and Ceno-Tethy (Late-Triassic–Cenozoic) are recognized. Neither Tethys oceans should be confused with the Rheic Ocean, which existed to the west of them in the Silurian period. To the north of the Tethys, the then land mass was called Angaraland and to the south of it, it was called Gondwanaland.

...
Wikipedia