450 C. SCHUCHERT PALEOGEOGRAPHY OF NORTH AMERICA 



westward, assisted by block faulting seaward either in late Jurassic or 

 early Comanchic. This action continued until late in Cretacic times, 

 when the ocean overlapped the continental shelf all along the coast from. 

 New Jersey southward, thus connecting with the Gulf of Mexico overlap. 



The various seas are defined as follows, being arranged in alphabetical, 

 order : 



Acadian trough. — See Saint Lawrence sea. 



Alaskan sea. — The Paleozoic and Mesozoic seaways about Yukonia. 

 Usually these waters were but the overlapping continental extensions of 

 the Arctic and Xorth Pacific oceans, but at times the individual parts 

 were united and then submerged most of Alaska. This sea was also at 

 times in connection with Mackenzie basin. 



Appalachian sea. — In one way or another this continental sea has been 

 recorded in geological literature since the work of W. B. and H. D. Eogers 

 in 1840. Williams 40 appears to have been the first to give it the name 

 "Appalachian basin," while Walcott called it " Appalachian sea." 41 It 

 comprises the Appalachian region of Dana 42 and his "eastern interior east 

 of the Cincinnati uplift." 43 Other names applied to the same sea are: 

 "Appalachian gulf" or "strait," 44 "Appalachian Valley trough" with ref- 

 erence to the eastern part with Cambric-Ordovicic formations, 45 Cum- 

 berland basin for the post-Ordovicic formations to the west of the "Appa- 

 lachian Valley fold or barrier," 46 and "Cumberland channel," 47 which em- 

 braces the southern area between the Cincinnati axis and Appalachia. 



Appalachian sea refers to the continuously subsiding, narrow, Paleozoic 

 syncline, "or group of troughs," 48 to the west of Appalachia, extending 

 from Alabama into eastern New York. In Pennsylvania this trough con- 

 tains approximately 30,000 feet of deposits. The Appalachian sea was not 

 distinctly separated from the Mississippian sea until the rise of the Cin- 

 cinnati axis, previous to which time the dominating Pacific waters lapped 

 Appalachia. Subsequently this sea received its faunas in the main from 

 (1) the Mexico- Caribbean mediterranean, (2) the Atlantic or rather Pos- 

 eidon ocean, and (3) the Mississippian sea. When these were from the 

 first named source entrance was effected by way of the Mexico embayment. 

 During the late Cambric and the Ordovicic Atlantic faunas migrated into 



40 Williams : Bull. Geological Society of America, vol. 1, 1890, p. 481. 



41 Walcott : Proc. American Association for the Advancement of Science, vol. 42, 1894, 

 map and pp. 141-145. 



42 Dana : Manual of Geology, 1874, p. 146. 



43 Dana: Bull. Geological Society of America, vol. 1, 1890, p. 41. 



44 Willis : Maryland Geological Survey, vol. 4, 1902, pp. 40, 52. 



45 Elrich and Schuchert : Rep. New York State Paleontologist, 1902, p. 638, and map.. 



46 Ibidem, pp. 638, 647, 649. 



47 Williams : American Journal of Science, vol. 3, 1897, p. 398. 



48 Dana : Bull. Geological Society of America, vol. 1, 1890, p. 42. 





