An epeiric sea (also known as an epicontinental sea) is a shallow sea that extends over part of a continent.
Epeiric seas are usually associated with the marine transgressions of the geologic past, which have variously been due to either global eustatic sea level changes, local tectonic deformation, or both, and are occasionally semi-cyclic. They can be warm or cold; several were present at the end of the last Ice Age, when sea level rose more rapidly than some areas could isostatically adjust. Modern examples are the Java Sea in Indonesia, Persian Gulf,[1] the North Sea, and Hudson Bay.