<p>This is what I found on Wiki, researching the same question:
The isthmus of Panama is thought to have been formed around 3 million years ago, separating the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and causing the creation of the Gulf Stream. This was first suggested in 1910 by North American paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn. He based the proposal on the fossil record of mammals in Central America. This conclusion provided a foundation for Alfred Wegener when he proposed the theory of continental drift in 1912.
What now bugs me is the outline of sea/oceanic currents before the isthmus closed.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-02-04T20:13:30.460Z
Thanks for finding that! Also, if you find anything about those older currents, let me know? :)
Syndic
CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-02-03T14:07:06.430Z
2023-02-03T14:07:06.430Z
Branka
<p>After reading about the NAC (North Atlantic Current) weakening in the news, we got to wondering about its history and that of the gulf stream. Specifically, how and when did they start? Were there conditions during the last ice age that prevented such currents forming, and we can point to a time X when the earth was warm (and the ice receeded enough) for them to do so? Or were they always there, just maybe shorter? The fact that there's worries about the NAC cutting off and europe cooling down considerably points to at least that one not being a guaranteed, always on thing.</p>
<p>Googling &quot;how old is&quot; or &quot;age of&quot; for these currents only returns dates for when they were discovered - and I'm fairly sure the gulf stream existed prior to 1513.</p>
<p>So I hope that someone here has knowledge beyond that: how did these ocean currents come to be? And roughly when in our planet's long history would that have happened?</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-24T06:24:44.637Z
is your question limited to the AMOC?.the gulf stream is mapped in detail for the last 500000 years as you can see here https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/ancient-warming-threw-crucial-atlantic-current-chaos-it-could-happen-again to find when the gulf stream started you can search for,paleoclimate-amoc-ocean stream-gulf stream.
trond hansen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-24T06:40:33.617Z
you might be able to find some useful information here http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~stefan/Publications/Book_chapters/Rahmstorf%2BFeulner-Paleoclimate-Ocean.pdf or in the links in the article.
trond hansen
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-09-27T13:17:22.083Z
Upper boundary: ~200 Ma, beginning of the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean. :)
Jean-Marie Prival
<oceanography><paleoclimatology><ocean-currents>
how old are the gulf stream and the NAC?
Syndic
# how old are the gulf stream and the NAC?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2021-08-24)

After reading about the NAC (North Atlantic Current) weakening in the news, we got to wondering about its history and that of the gulf stream. Specifically, how and when did they start? Were there conditions during the last ice age that prevented such currents forming, and we can point to a time X when the earth was warm (and the ice receeded enough) for them to do so? Or were they always there, just maybe shorter? The fact that there's worries about the NAC cutting off and europe cooling down considerably points to at least that one not being a guaranteed, always on thing.

Googling "how old is" or "age of" for these currents only returns dates for when they were discovered - and I'm fairly sure the gulf stream existed prior to 1513.

So I hope that someone here has knowledge beyond that: how did these ocean currents come to be? And roughly when in our planet's long history would that have happened?

**Tags:** oceanography, paleoclimatology, ocean-currents

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: is your question limited to the AMOC?.the gulf stream is mapped in detail for the last 500000 years as you can see here https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2020/03/ancient-warming-threw-crucial-atlantic-current-chaos-it-could-happen-again to find when the gulf stream started you can search for,paleoclimate-amoc-ocean stream-gulf stream.  
> **username_1**: you might be able to find some useful information here http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~stefan/Publications/Book_chapters/Rahmstorf%2BFeulner-Paleoclimate-Ocean.pdf or in the links in the article.  
> **username_2**: Upper boundary: ~200 Ma, beginning of the opening of the North Atlantic Ocean. :)  

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## 1 answers

### Answer by username_3 on 2023-02-03. Score: 1 | Accepted answer

This is what I found on Wiki, researching the same question:
The isthmus of Panama is thought to have been formed around 3 million years ago, separating the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans and causing the creation of the Gulf Stream. This was first suggested in 1910 by North American paleontologist Henry Fairfield Osborn. He based the proposal on the fossil record of mammals in Central America. This conclusion provided a foundation for Alfred Wegener when he proposed the theory of continental drift in 1912.
What now bugs me is the outline of sea/oceanic currents before the isthmus closed.

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for finding that! Also, if you find anything about those older currents, let me know? :)  

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