The Tethyan realm records one of Earth's most protracted and instructive examples of ocean-basin evolution, spanning nearly 600 million years from Neoproterozoic continental rifting to Mesozoic collision and final ocean closure in Cenozoic. This session examines the recurrent, long-lived geodynamic processes that governed the birth, growth, consumption, and demise of successive Tethyan oceanic domains, from the breakup of Rodinia and the opening of the Proto-, Paleo-, and Neo-Tethys oceans, to the assembly of Pangea and the Alpine–Himalayan orogenic collage. A central objective is to identify which mechanisms persisted across multiple Wilson cycles, and how they operated within evolving plate-margin configurations.

We invite contributions addressing, but not limited to: the rifting and initial spreading dynamics of Tethyan basins; the role of subduction initiation, slab retreat, and ridge–trench interaction in oceanic accretion; the accretion of oceanic plateaus, seamounts, and arc complexes; the timing and mechanisms of ocean closure and terminal collision; and the transfer of deformation from oceanic to continental lithosphere. We particularly welcome interdisciplinary studies integrating structural geology, petrology, geochronology, paleomagnetism, and geodynamic modeling to trace continuity and change in these long-lived processes. By comparing Tethyan segments across space and time, this session aims to refine general models of ocean evolution and to illuminate the deeper, persistent drivers that link deep-Earth dynamics to surface orogenesis.