Sometimes called the "Proto-Atlantic Ocean", this ancient body of water disappeared around 400 million years ago when the European and American continents started to close in. The join where Scotland and England converged is not far from Hadrian's Wall. The rocks in Scotland are very similar to those in North America.
n. A relatively small ocean that existed between the continents of Laurentia, Baltica, and Avalonia from the Late Precambrian to the Devonian.
An ancient ocean that no longer exists and is only recognisable by the sediments that were laid down in it. It was formed by splitting of a continent called Laurentia about 600 million years ago and disappeared when other continents named Avalonia and Baltica collided with Laurentia between 500 and 400 million years ago.
A Paleozoic ocean basin that separated North America from Europe; the Iapetus Ocean began closing when North America and Europe started moving toward one another; it was eliminated when these continents collided during the Late Paleozoic.
The Iapetus Ocean was an ocean that existed in the Southern Hemisphere between Laurentia (Scotland and North America) and Baltica (Scandinavia) between 400 and 600 million years ago. As a sort of precursor of the Atlantic Ocean, it was named for the Titan Iapetus, father -- in Greek mythology -- of Atlas, for whom that ocean was named.