earth science

Pharusian Ocean

Pharusian Ocean is a earth science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Pharusian Ocean rather than just read about it. In short: The Pharusian Ocean (; fuh-ROO-zee-uhn) is an ancient ocean that existed on Earth from 800 to 635 million years ago, between the break-up of the Rodinia supercontinent and the start of formation of the Pannotia supercontinent. Opening and closure The Pharusian Ocean opened around 800 million years ago in the Neoproterozoic era after rifting along the eastern margin of the West African craton during the breakup of Ro…

Key takeaways

Pharusian Ocean belongs to earth science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Pharusian Ocean to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Pharusian Ocean from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Pharusian Ocean (; fuh-ROO-zee-uhn) is an ancient ocean that existed on Earth from 800 to 635 million years ago, between the break-up of the Rodinia supercontinent and the start of formation of the Pannotia supercontinent.

Opening and closure The Pharusian Ocean opened around 800 million years ago in the Neoproterozoic era after rifting along the eastern margin of the West African craton during the breakup of Rodinia. The ocean began to close around 730 million years ago with eastward subduction of the Tilemsi arc, which was accreted against the Hoggar region of the Saharan Metacraton. The western part of the Hoggar massif is made of material from the Pharusian Ocean including oceanic basalts, arc volcanic and sedimentary rocks and sediments that were shed into the Pharusian Ocean by the West African craton and the eastern Hoggar. Closure was completed when the West African and Saharan cratons collided around 635 million years ago at the start of the Pan-African orogeny.

Southern extension The Goiás Ocean, lying to the southwest between the Amazonian craton and the Congo craton, extended into the Pharusian Ocean. The Goiás Ocean closed during the final phases of formation of West Gondwana. The southern portion of the Trans Brazilian Lineament (TBL) marks the suture zone of this closure, while the northern Borborema portion of the TBL and the Trans-Saharan Belt, running from Algeria to Benin, mark the suture zone of the Pharusian Ocean closure. These ocean closures and subsequent tectonic events were not simultaneous, but happened over an extended period of time. In southwestern central Africa the granulite cooling ages range between 587 and 576 Ma, while in northeast Brazil they range from 568 to 500 Ma. However, aeromagnetic and gravity data give evidence of continuity between the TBL lineament, the Sobral fault in northeastern Brazil, the Kandi fault zone in Benin and the Trans-Saharan Belt formed by closure of the Pharusian Ocean.

References

Sources

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Pharusian Ocean

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Pharusian Ocean claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In earth science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Pharusian Ocean before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Pharusian Ocean ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Pharusian Ocean

In research: Pharusian Ocean appears in earth science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Pharusian Ocean in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Pharusian Ocean is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Historical oceans, Palaeogeography stubs, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Pharusian Ocean outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Pharusian Ocean in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Pharusian Ocean means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Pharusian Ocean out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Pharusian Ocean in simple terms?

Why does Pharusian Ocean matter?

Because it connects several earth science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Pharusian Ocean?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Pharusian Ocean.