Since the time of the global landmass called Pangea, Texas drifted 2,000 miles north. Map: Guilbert Gates (source: Ron Blakey / Colorado Plateau Geosystems Inc ™) The roads were empty and fast.

At its largest, the Western Interior Seaway stretched from the Rockies east to the Appalachian Mountains, some 1,000 km (620 mi) wide. At its deepest, it may have been only 800 or 900 metres (2,600 or 3,000 ft) deep, shallow in terms of seas.

Feb 20, 2025 · In West Texas, during the early Mesozoic Era, a large shallow lake occupied the abandoned site of the Permian Basin, but eventually waters from the Gulf of Mexico encroached and flooded West Texas beneath a shallow sea.

Mar 6, 2022 · The Western Interior Seaway is known to have been a shallow sea and one that teemed with remarkable diversity and abundance of marine life. "The waters of the Western Interior Seaway were warm, shallow, and inhabited by a plethora of marine animals."

The Cretaceous-aged rocks of the continental interior of the United States–from Texas to Montana–record a long geological history of this region being covered by a relatively shallow body of marine water called the Western Interior Seaway (WIS).

By the early Cretaceous (approximately 140 million years ago), the shallow Mesozoic seas covered a large part of Texas, eventually extending west to the Trans-Pecos area and north almost to present-day state boundaries.

Jan 26, 2013 · Scientists have been charting the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana for three-quarters of a century. Hundreds of surveys have provided glimpses of different regions, in different levels of detail.

Jun 27, 2024 · During the early part of the Paleozoic Era, approximately 600 to 350 million years ago, Texas was periodically covered by broad, relatively shallow seas. These seas inundated the Texas Craton, which includes much of North and West Texas.

Aug 16, 2024 · Yes, Texas used to be an ocean millions of years ago. The state’s geology tells a story of great change over time. Fossils of marine life can be found far from today’s coastline, offering evidence of what was once a shallow inland sea that covered much of the …

Jun 22, 2022 · During the Paleozoic, shallow inland seas spread across the interior of Laurentia (ancient North America), covering North America’s Precambrian shield. Even the high areas of northwestern Texas and the Ozark Mountains of Missouri were occasionally underwater.