Mirovia

Mirovia (from Russian мировой, mirovoy, meaning "global") was a hypothesized superocean which may have been a global ocean surrounding the supercontinent Rodinia in the Neoproterozoic Era, about 1 billion to 750 million years ago.^[1] The Mirovia may be essentially identical to, or the precursor of, the hypothesized Pan-African Ocean, which followed the rifting of Rodinia. The Panthalassa (proto-Pacific Ocean) developed in the Neoproterozoic Era by subduction at the expense of the global Mirovia ocean.^[2]

Geologic evidence suggests that the middle Neoproterozoic, the Cryogenian period, was an extreme ice age so intense that Mirovia may have been completely frozen to a depth of 2-km. This is part of the Snowball Earth hypothesis.

References

1. ^ McMenamin, Mark A.; McMenamin, Dianna L. (1990). "The Rifting of Rodinia". The Emergence of Animals. Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-06647-3. 
2. ^ Powell, Christopher McA; Pisarevsky, Sergei A.. "Rodinia to Gondwanaland: Growth of the Pacific Ocean and Destruction of the Mozambique and Brazilide Oceans". GSA Conference, Earth System Processes - Global Meeting (June 24-28, 2001), abstract. http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2001ESP/finalprogram/abstract_8026.htm. 

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