Figure 15. Global maps of the Cretaceous (105 My) and (90 My) showing the distribution of seaways and oceans. (1) Tethys Ocean, (2) Tethys Seaway, (3) Western Tethys, (4) South Atlantic, (5) Benue Trough, (6) South American Seaway, and (7) the trans-Saharan Seaway (Roney 2013). In the Cretaceous, North America had the Western Interior Seaway and northern Australia had the Eromanga Sea. delta systems and lakeshore sedimentary environments were inferred to be the main areas for coal formation. Other examples of Mesozoic formations that incorporate lacustrine deposition have been described including North America’s Morrison Formation (Frazier and Schwimmer 1987; Hagen-Kristiansen 2017), South America’s Parnaíba Basin (Soares et al. 1978), Australia’s Eromanga Basin (Michaelsen and McKirdy 1989), and rift basins in northern Africa (Guiraud et al. 2005). b. Inland seaways During times of seafloor spreading, newly created mid-ocean ridge basalt was hotter and its increased volume is inferred to have displaced oceanic water to overflow low-lying parts of continental crust and form interior seaways. However, the ocean did not completeDICKENS Flood Waters Lead to Seafloor Spreading 2023 ICC 460
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