The Turgai Strait divides Europe from Asia
A shallow sea runs from the Arctic to the Tethys, and Europe evolves as an island for twenty million years.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 16 million years
- Known to
- ± 3 million years
- Era
- Eocene, Cenozoic
High Eocene sea levels flood the West Siberian lowland, creating a seaway from the Arctic Ocean south to the Tethys along the line of the modern Urals. Europe becomes an archipelago isolated from Asia, and its mammals — palaeotheres, endemic artiodactyls and primates — diverge accordingly. When falling sea level drains the strait at the end of the Eocene, Asian faunas pour across and the European fauna is replaced in the Grande Coupure. Few geographical features have such a legible biological signature.