Valais Ocean
Bündner schist | flysch | molasse
Aarmassif | Dent Blanche klippe | Engadine window | Flysch zone | Giudicárie line | Greywacke zone | Hohe Tauern window | Molasse basin | Penninic thrustfront | Periadriatic Seam | Ivrea zone | Lepontin dome | Rechnitz window | Rhône-Simplon line | Sesia unit
Valais Ocean
The Valais Ocean is a subducted oceanic basin which was situated between the continent Europe and the microcontinent Iberia or so called Briançonnais microcontinent. Remnants of the Valais ocean are found in the western Alps and in tectonic windows of the eastern Alps and are mapped as the so-called "north Penninic" nappes.
After the breakup of Pangaea in the early Mesozoic age, the continents of Africa, South America, Europe and North America began to move away from each other. The breaking up, or rifting, did not take place along one unbroken line; thus, at the southern edge of the European plate the microcontinent Iberia also began to break away from Europe. In the western part of the rift that separated the two landmasses, oceanic crust was formed in what is at present the Gulf of Biscay, while in the eastern part the Valais Ocean was formed.
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Wikipedia