Piemont-Liguria Ocean
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{{unreferenced|date=March 2008}}
{{Geology of the Alps}}
The '''Piemont-Liguria basin''' or the '''Piemont-Liguria Ocean''' (sometimes only one of the two names is used, for example: Piemonte Ocean) was a former piece of [[oceanic crust]] that is seen as part of the [[Tethys Ocean]]. Together with some other oceanic [[basin (geology)|basin]]s that existed between the continents [[Europe]] and [[Africa]] the Piemont-Liguria Ocean is called the Western or Alpine Tethys Ocean.
==Plate tectonic history==
The Piemont-Liguria Ocean was formed in the [[Jurassic]] period, when the [[paleocontinent]]s [[Laurasia]] (to the north, with Europe) and [[Gondwana]] (to the south, with Africa) started to move away from each other. The oceanic crust that formed in between the two continents became the Piemont-Liguria Ocean. In the [[Cretaceous]] period the Piemont-Liguria Ocean lay between Europe (and a smaller plate called the [[microcontinent Iberia|Iberian plate]]) in the northwest and the [[Apulian plate]] (a sub-plate of the African [[tectonic plate]]) in the southeast.
When the Apulian plate started moving to the northwest in the late Cretaceous, Piemont-Ligurian crust began to [[subduction|subduct]] beneath it. In the [[Paleocene]] the Piemont-Ligurian Ocean had completely disappeared under the Alpulian plate and [[continental collision]] started between Apulia and Europe, which would lead to the formation of the [[Alps]] and the [[Apennine Mountains|Apennines]] in the [[Tertiary]].
==Remains==
Fragments of Piemont-Ligurian oceanic crust were preserved as [[ophiolite]]s in the [[Penninic nappes]] of the Alps and the [[Tuscan nappes]] of the Apennines. These nappes were subducted, sometimes to great depths in the [[Mantle (geology)|mantle]], before being [[obduction|obducted]] again. Due to the high [[pressure]]s and [[temperature]]s at these depths, much of the material had been [[metamorphism|metamorphosed]] in the [[blueschist facies|blueschist]] or [[eclogite facies]].
==See also==
* [[Geology of the Alps]]
* [[Pannonian Sea]] - also known as Paratethys Sea
[[Category:Historical oceans]]
[[Category:Jurassic]]
[[Category:Cretaceous]]
[[Category:Paleocene]]
[[Category:Geology of the Alps]]
[[nl:Piemonte-Liguriëbekken]]
[[sk:Piemontsko-ligurský oceán]]