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Tethys
Tethys The great Austrian geologist Eduard Suess pointed out in 1893 that an inferred Jurassic marine realm extending from the Alps to the Himalayas had originally been an ocean, and that its compressional obliteration between the northern Angaraland (a shield area east of the Urals) and southern Gondwanaland had generated the Alpine–Himalayan mountain chains. To underline its oceanic character Suess called this sea ‘Tethys’, after the sister and wife of Okeanos, the god of the ocean in ancient Greek mythology. Shortly afterwards Suess extended the age of Tethys down to the Triassic.
The notion of Tethys turned out to be one of the most important and durable concepts that modern geology has inherited, but it has been interpreted in a variety of ways. Palaeobiogeographers have considered it to be an equatorial seaway extending from Central America to South-East Asia, characterized by a distinctive fauna. For stratigraphers, Tethys implied a certain collection of mainly Mesozoic marine facies realms. Tectonicians were divided into two camps. Some considered it a ‘fixed’ geosyncline that had existed since the later Proterozoic, which had diminished in size progressively in the Phanerozoic and was eliminated finally during the ‘Alpine orogeny’. Others saw it as a rather narrow ‘mobile’ marine realm caught up between the drifting continental rafts of Laurasia and Gondwanaland. In plate-tectonic reconstructions of Pangaea Tethys is seen as an ocean wedging out westwards as the Americas are approached. In the most modern tectonic interpretation, the Turkish geologist Celal Sengör has recognized the former existence of another, older Tethys (Palaeo-Tethys), a contemporary of Pangaea. Its closure formed the Cimmeride orogenic system, which is distinct from, but largely overprinted by, the Alpide orogenic system, a product of the demise of the ‘classical’ Tethys. Anthony Hallam Bibliography Sengör, A. M. C. (1985) The story of Tethys: How many wives did Okeanos have? Episodes, 8, 3–12. |
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PAUL HANCOCK and BRIAN J. SKINNER. "Tethys." The Oxford Companion to the Earth. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PAUL HANCOCK and BRIAN J. SKINNER. "Tethys." The Oxford Companion to the Earth. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O112-Tethys.html PAUL HANCOCK and BRIAN J. SKINNER. "Tethys." The Oxford Companion to the Earth. 2000. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O112-Tethys.html |
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Tethys
Tethys in Greek mythology, a goddess of the sea, daughter of Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth), and consort of Oceanus.
In astronomy, Tethys was the name given to a satellite of Saturn, the ninth closest to the planet and probably composed mainly of ice, discovered by Cassini in 1684. In geology, it is the name of an ocean formerly separating the supercontinents of Gondwana and Laurasia, the forerunner of the present-day Mediterranean. |
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ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Tethys." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Tethys." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Tethys.html ELIZABETH KNOWLES. "Tethys." The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 2006. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O214-Tethys.html |
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Tethys
Tethys, the greatest of the Greek sea goddesses, was the wife of Oceanus, and by legend the mother of the world's greatest rivers, including the Nile. She also had up to 3,000 daughters, known as the Oceanides. By some, she has been identified with Thetis, who in fact was her granddaughter. Her name is frequently used poetically to express the sea itself.
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"Tethys." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Tethys." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-Tethys.html "Tethys." The Oxford Companion to Ships and the Sea. 2006. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O225-Tethys.html |
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Tethys
Tethys in Greek religion and mythology, a Titan, daughter of Gaea and Uranus. She was the wife of the seagod Oceanus and the mother of the Oceanids. |
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"Tethys." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Tethys." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Tethys2.html "Tethys." The Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th ed.. 2008. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-Tethys2.html |
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Tethys
Tethys
•Attis, gratis, lattice
•malpractice, practice, practise
•Atlantis, mantis
•pastis
•Lettice, lettuce, Thetis
•apprentice, compos mentis, in loco parentis, prentice
•Alcestis, testis
•poetess • armistice
•appendicitis, arthritis, bronchitis, cellulitis, colitis, conjunctivitis, cystitis, dermatitis, encephalitis, gastroenteritis, gingivitis, hepatitis, laryngitis, lymphangitis, meningitis, nephritis, neuritis, osteoarthritis, pericarditis, peritonitis, pharyngitis, sinusitis, tonsillitis
•epiglottis, glottis
•solstice
•mortise, rigor mortis
•countess • viscountess
•myosotis, notice, Otis
•poultice • justice • giantess • clematis
•Curtis • interstice • Tethys
•Glenrothes • Travis
•Jarvis, parvis
•clevis, crevice, Nevis
•Elvis, pelvis
•Avis, Davies, mavis
•Leavis • Divis • novice • Clovis
•Jervis, service
•marquess, marquis
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"Tethys." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 10 Feb. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Tethys." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (February 10, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-Tethys.html "Tethys." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved February 10, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-Tethys.html |
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