Miocene

Last updated
Miocene
23.03 ± 0.3 – 5.333 ± 0.08 Ma
Chronology
Etymology
Name formalityFormal
Usage information
Celestial body Earth
Regional usageGlobal (ICS)
Time scale(s) usedICS Time Scale
Definition
Chronological unit Epoch
Stratigraphic unit Series
Time span formalityFormal
Lower boundary definition
Lower boundary GSSPLemme-Carrosio Section, Carrosio, Italy
44°39′32″N8°50′11″E / 44.6589°N 8.8364°E / 44.6589; 8.8364
GSSP ratified1996 [4]
Upper boundary definitionBase of the Thvera magnetic event (C3n.4n), which is only 96 ka (5 precession cycles) younger than the GSSP
Upper boundary GSSPHeraclea Minoa section, Heraclea Minoa, Cattolica Eraclea, Sicily, Italy
37°23′30″N13°16′50″E / 37.3917°N 13.2806°E / 37.3917; 13.2806
GSSP ratified2000 [5]

The Miocene ( /ˈmaɪ.əsiːn,-oʊ-/ MY-ə-seen, -⁠oh-) [6] [7] is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about 23.03 to 5.333 million years ago (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words μείων (meíōn, "less") and καινός (kainós, "new") [8] [9] and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern marine invertebrates than the Pliocene has. [10] The Miocene is preceded by the Oligocene and is followed by the Pliocene.

Contents

As Earth went from the Oligocene through the Miocene and into the Pliocene, the climate slowly cooled towards a series of ice ages. [11] [12] The Miocene boundaries are not marked by a single distinct global event but consist rather of regionally defined boundaries between the warmer Oligocene and the cooler Pliocene Epoch.

During the Early Miocene, the Arabian Peninsula collided with Eurasia, severing the connection between the Mediterranean and Indian Ocean, and allowing a faunal interchange to occur between Eurasia and Africa, including the dispersal of proboscideans into Eurasia. During the late Miocene, the connections between the Atlantic and Mediterranean closed, causing the Mediterranean Sea to nearly completely evaporate, in an event called the Messinian salinity crisis. The Strait of Gibraltar opened and the Mediterranean refilled at the Miocene–Pliocene boundary, in an event called the Zanclean flood.

The apes first evolved, arose, and diversified during the early Miocene (Aquitanian and Burdigalian Stages), becoming widespread in the Old World. By the end of this epoch and the start of the following one, the ancestors of humans had split away from the ancestors of the chimpanzees to follow their own evolutionary path during the final Messinian Stage (7.5–5.3 Ma) of the Miocene. As in the Oligocene before it, grasslands continued to expand and forests to dwindle in extent. In the seas of the Miocene, kelp forests made their first appearance and soon became one of Earth's most productive ecosystems. [13]

The plants and animals of the Miocene were recognizably modern. Mammals and birds were well-established. Whales, pinnipeds, and kelp spread.

The Miocene is of particular interest to geologists and palaeoclimatologists as major phases of the geology of the Himalaya occurred during the Miocene, affecting monsoonal patterns in Asia, which were interlinked with glacial periods in the northern hemisphere. [14]

Subdivisions

Subdivisions of the Miocene Miocene Chart.jpg
Subdivisions of the Miocene

The Miocene faunal stages from youngest to oldest are typically named according to the International Commission on Stratigraphy: [15]

Sub-epochFaunal stageTime range
Late Miocene Messinian 7.246–5.333 Ma
Tortonian 11.63–7.246 Ma
Middle Miocene Serravallian 13.82–11.63 Ma
Langhian 15.97–13.82 Ma
Early Miocene Burdigalian 20.44–15.97 Ma
Aquitanian 23.03–20.44 Ma

Regionally, other systems are used, based on characteristic land mammals; some of them overlap with the preceding Oligocene and following Pliocene Epochs:

European Land Mammal Ages

North American Land Mammal Ages

South American Land Mammal Ages

Paleogeography

Japan during the Early Miocene Sea of Japan Early Miocene map.svg
Japan during the Early Miocene
The Mediterranean during the Late Miocene Late Miocene Europe.jpg
The Mediterranean during the Late Miocene

Continents continued to drift toward their present positions. Of the modern geologic features, only the land bridge between South America and North America was absent, [16] although South America was approaching the western subduction zone in the Pacific Ocean, causing both the rise of the Andes and a southward extension of the Meso-American peninsula. [17]

Mountain building took place in western North America, Europe, and East Asia. [18] Both continental and marine Miocene deposits are common worldwide with marine outcrops common near modern shorelines. Well studied continental exposures occur in the North American Great Plains and in Argentina.

India continued to collide with Asia, creating dramatic new mountain ranges. The Tethys seaway continued to shrink and then disappeared as Africa collided with Eurasia in the Turkish–Arabian region between 19 and 12 Ma. [18] The subsequent uplift of mountains in the western Mediterranean region and a global fall in sea levels combined to cause a temporary drying up of the Mediterranean Sea (known as the Messinian salinity crisis) near the end of the Miocene. [19]

The global trend was towards increasing aridity caused primarily by global cooling reducing the ability of the atmosphere to absorb moisture. [20] Uplift of East Africa in the late Miocene was partly responsible for the shrinking of tropical rain forests in that region, [21] and Australia got drier as it entered a zone of low rainfall in the Late Miocene. [22]

At the beginning of the Miocene, the northern margin of the Arabian plate collided with Eurasia, causing the closure of the Indian Ocean-Mediterranean Seaway, severing the connection between the two bodies of water, and forming a land connection between Afro-Arabia and Eurasia. [23]

South America

During the Oligocene and Early Miocene the coast of northern Brazil, [24] Colombia, south-central Peru, central Chile and large swathes of inland Patagonia were subject to a marine transgression. [25] The transgressions in the west coast of South America are thought to be caused by a regional phenomenon while the steadily rising central segment of the Andes represents an exception. [25] While there are numerous registers of Oligo-Miocene transgressions around the world it is doubtful that these correlate. [24]

It is thought that the Oligo-Miocene transgression in Patagonia could have temporarily linked the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, as inferred from the findings of marine invertebrate fossils of both Atlantic and Pacific affinity in La Cascada Formation. [26] [27] Connection would have occurred through narrow epicontinental seaways that formed channels in a dissected topography. [26] [28]

The Antarctic Plate started to subduct beneath South America 14 million years ago in the Miocene, forming the Chile Triple Junction. At first the Antarctic Plate subducted only in the southernmost tip of Patagonia, meaning that the Chile Triple Junction lay near the Strait of Magellan. As the southern part of Nazca Plate and the Chile Rise became consumed by subduction the more northerly regions of the Antarctic Plate begun to subduct beneath Patagonia so that the Chile Triple Junction advanced to the north over time. [29] The asthenospheric window associated to the triple junction disturbed previous patterns of mantle convection beneath Patagonia inducing an uplift of ca. 1 km that reversed the Oligocene–Miocene transgression. [28] [30]

As the southern Andes rose in the Middle Miocene (14–12 million years ago) the resulting rain shadow originated the Patagonian Desert to the east. [31]

Climate

Climates remained moderately warm, although the slow global cooling that eventually led to the Pleistocene glaciations continued.

Although a long-term cooling trend was well underway, there is evidence of a warm period during the Miocene when the global climate rivalled that of the Oligocene. The Miocene warming began 21 million years ago and continued until 14 million years ago, when global temperatures took a sharp drop—the Middle Miocene Climate Transition (MMCT). By 8 million years ago, temperatures dropped sharply once again, and the Antarctic ice sheet was already approaching its present-day size and thickness. Greenland may have begun to have large glaciers as early as 7 to 8 million years ago, [32] [33] although the climate for the most part remained warm enough to support forests there well into the Pliocene. [34]

Life

Life during the Miocene Epoch was mostly supported by the two newly formed biomes, kelp forests and grasslands. Grasslands allow for more grazers, such as horses, rhinoceroses, and hippos. Ninety-five percent of modern plants existed by the end of this epoch. Modern bony fish genera were established. [35]

Flora

The dragon blood tree is considered a remnant of the Mio-Pliocene Laurasian subtropical forests that are now almost extinct in North Africa. Socotra dragon tree.JPG
The dragon blood tree is considered a remnant of the Mio-Pliocene Laurasian subtropical forests that are now almost extinct in North Africa.

The coevolution of gritty, fibrous, fire-tolerant grasses and long-legged gregarious ungulates with high-crowned teeth, led to a major expansion of grass-grazer ecosystems, with roaming herds of large, swift grazers pursued by predators across broad sweeps of open grasslands, displacing desert, woodland, and browsers.

The higher organic content and water retention of the deeper and richer grassland soils, with long-term burial of carbon in sediments, produced a carbon and water vapor sink. This, combined with higher surface albedo and lower evapotranspiration of grassland, contributed to a cooler, drier climate. [37] C4 grasses, which are able to assimilate carbon dioxide and water more efficiently than C3 grasses, expanded to become ecologically significant near the end of the Miocene between 6 and 7 million years ago. [38] The expansion of grasslands and radiations among terrestrial herbivores correlates to fluctuations in CO2. [39]

Cycads between 11.5 and 5 million years ago began to rediversify after previous declines in variety due to climatic changes, and thus modern cycads are not a good model for a "living fossil". [40] Eucalyptus fossil leaves occur in the Miocene of New Zealand, where the genus is not native today, but have been introduced from Australia. [41]

Fauna

Cameloid footprint (Lamaichnum alfi Sarjeant and Reynolds, 1999; convex hyporelief) from the Barstow Formation (Miocene) of Rainbow Basin, California. CamelFootprintBarstowMiocene.jpg
Cameloid footprint (Lamaichnum alfi Sarjeant and Reynolds, 1999; convex hyporelief) from the Barstow Formation (Miocene) of Rainbow Basin, California.

Both marine and continental fauna were fairly modern, although marine mammals were less numerous. Only in isolated South America and Australia did widely divergent fauna exist.

In the Early Miocene, several Oligocene groups were still diverse, including nimravids, entelodonts, and three-toed equids. Like in the previous Oligocene Epoch, oreodonts were still diverse, only to disappear in the earliest Pliocene. During the later Miocene mammals were more modern, with easily recognizable canids, bears, red pandas, procyonids, equids, beavers, deer, camelids, and whales, along with now extinct groups like borophagine canids, certain gomphotheres, three-toed horses, and hornless rhinos like Teleoceras and Aphelops . Islands began to form between South and North America in the Late Miocene, allowing ground sloths like Thinobadistes to island-hop to North America. The expansion of silica-rich C4 grasses led to worldwide extinctions of herbivorous species without high-crowned teeth. [42]

Unequivocally recognizable dabbling ducks, plovers, typical owls, cockatoos and crows appear during the Miocene. By the epoch's end, all or almost all modern bird groups are believed to have been present; the few post-Miocene bird fossils which cannot be placed in the evolutionary tree with full confidence are simply too badly preserved, rather than too equivocal in character. Marine birds reached their highest diversity ever in the course of this epoch.

The youngest representatives of Choristodera, an extinct order of aquatic reptiles that first appeared in the Middle Jurassic, are known from the Miocene of Europe, belonging to the genus Lazarussuchus, which had been the only known surviving genus of the group since the beginning of the Eocene. [43]

The last known representatives of the archaic primitive mammal order Meridiolestida, which dominated South America during the Late Cretaceous, are known from the Miocene of Patagonia, represented by the mole-like Necrolestes. [44]

The youngest known representatives of metatherians (marsupial relatives) in the Northern Hemisphere landmasses (Asia, North America and Europe) and Africa are known from the Miocene, including the North American herpetotheriid Herpetotherium , the European herpetotheriid Amphiperatherium, the peradectids Siamoperadectes and Sinoperadectes from Asia, [45] [46] and the possible herpetotheriid Morotodon from the late Early Miocene of Uganda. [47]

Approximately 100 species of apes lived during this time, ranging throughout Africa, Asia and Europe and varying widely in size, diet, and anatomy. Due to scanty fossil evidence it is unclear which ape or apes contributed to the modern hominid clade, but molecular evidence indicates this ape lived between 18 and 13 million years ago. [48] The first hominins (bipedal apes of the human lineage) appeared in Africa at the very end of the Miocene, including Sahelanthropus , Orrorin , and an early form of Ardipithecus ( A. kadabba ) The chimpanzee–human divergence is thought to have occurred at this time. [49]

The expansion of grasslands in North America also led to an explosive radiation among snakes. [50] Previously, snakes were a minor component of the North American fauna, but during the Miocene, the number of species and their prevalence increased dramatically with the first appearances of vipers and elapids in North America and the significant diversification of Colubridae (including the origin of many modern genera such as Nerodia , Lampropeltis , Pituophis and Pantherophis ). [50]

Fossils from the Calvert Formation, Zone 10, Calvert Co., MD (Miocene) Calvert Zone 10 Calvert Co MD.jpg
Fossils from the Calvert Formation, Zone 10, Calvert Co., MD (Miocene)
A Miocene crab (Tumidocarcinus giganteus) from the collection of the Children's Museum of Indianapolis The Childrens Museum of Indianapolis - Miocene crab.jpg
A Miocene crab ( Tumidocarcinus giganteus ) from the collection of the Children's Museum of Indianapolis

In the oceans, brown algae, called kelp, proliferated, supporting new species of sea life, including otters, fish and various invertebrates.

Cetaceans attained their greatest diversity during the Miocene, [51] with over 20 recognized genera of baleen whales in comparison to only six living genera. [52] This diversification correlates with emergence of gigantic macro-predators such as megatoothed sharks and raptorial sperm whales. [53] Prominent examples are O. megalodon and L. melvillei . [53] Other notable large sharks were O. chubutensis , Isurus hastalis, and Hemipristis serra .

Crocodilians also showed signs of diversification during Miocene. The largest form among them was a gigantic caiman Purussaurus which inhabited South America. [54] Another gigantic form was a false gharial Rhamphosuchus , which inhabited modern age India. A strange form, Mourasuchus also thrived alongside Purussaurus. This species developed a specialized filter-feeding mechanism, and it likely preyed upon small fauna despite its gigantic size. The youngest members of Sebecidae, a clade of terrestrial crocodylfomes distantly related to modern crocodilians, are known from the Miocene of South America. [55]

The pinnipeds, which appeared near the end of the Oligocene, became more aquatic. A prominent genus was Allodesmus . [56] A ferocious walrus, Pelagiarctos may have preyed upon other species of pinnipeds including Allodesmus.

Furthermore, South American waters witnessed the arrival of Megapiranha paranensis , which were considerably larger than modern age piranhas.

New Zealand's Miocene fossil record is particularly rich. Marine deposits showcase a variety of cetaceans and penguins, illustrating the evolution of both groups into modern representatives. The early Miocene Saint Bathans Fauna is the only Cenozoic terrestrial fossil record of the landmass, showcasing a wide variety of not only bird species, including early representatives of clades such as moas, kiwis and adzebills, but also a diverse herpetofauna of sphenodontians, crocodiles and turtle as well as a rich terrestrial mammal fauna composed of various species of bats and the enigmatic Saint Bathans Mammal.

Oceans

There is evidence from oxygen isotopes at Deep Sea Drilling Program sites that ice began to build up in Antarctica about 36 Ma during the Eocene. Further marked decreases in temperature during the Middle Miocene at 15 Ma probably reflect increased ice growth in Antarctica. It can therefore be assumed that East Antarctica had some glaciers during the early to mid Miocene (23–15 Ma). Oceans cooled partly due to the formation of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current, and about 15 million years ago the ice cap in the southern hemisphere started to grow to its present form. The Greenland ice cap developed later, in the Middle Pliocene time, about 3 million years ago.

Middle Miocene disruption

The "Middle Miocene disruption" refers to a wave of extinctions of terrestrial and aquatic life forms that occurred following the Miocene Climatic Optimum (18 to 16 Ma), around 14.8 to 14.5 million years ago, during the Langhian Stage of the mid-Miocene. A major and permanent cooling step occurred between 14.8 and 14.1 Ma, associated with increased production of cold Antarctic deep waters and a major growth of the East Antarctic ice sheet. A Middle Miocene δ18O increase, that is, a relative increase in the heavier isotope of oxygen, has been noted in the Pacific, the Southern Ocean and the South Atlantic. [57]

Impact event

A large impact event occurred either during the Miocene (23 Ma – 5.3 Ma) or the Pliocene (5.3 Ma – 2.6 Ma). The event formed the Karakul crater (52 km diameter), in Tajikistan which is estimated to have an age of less than 23 Ma [58] or less than 5 Ma. [59]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cenozoic</span> Third era of the Phanerozoic Eon (66 million years ago to present)

The Cenozoic is Earth's current geological era, representing the last 66 million years of Earth's history. It is characterized by the dominance of mammals, birds and flowering plants, a cooling and drying climate, and the current configuration of continents. It is the latest of three geological eras since complex life evolved, preceded by the Mesozoic and Paleozoic. It started with the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, when many species, including the non-avian dinosaurs, became extinct in an event attributed by most experts to the impact of a large asteroid or other celestial body, the Chicxulub impactor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eocene</span> Second epoch of the Paleogene Period

The Eocene Epoch is a geological epoch that lasted from about 56 to 33.9 million years ago (mya). It is the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era. The name Eocene comes from the Ancient Greek ἠώς and καινός and refers to the "dawn" of modern ('new') fauna that appeared during the epoch.

The Neogene, informally Upper Tertiary or Late Tertiary, is a geologic period and system that spans 20.45 million years from the end of the Paleogene Period 23.03 million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the present Quaternary Period 2.58 Mya. The Neogene is sub-divided into two epochs, the earlier Miocene and the later Pliocene. Some geologists assert that the Neogene cannot be clearly delineated from the modern geological period, the Quaternary. The term "Neogene" was coined in 1853 by the Austrian palaeontologist Moritz Hörnes (1815–1868).

The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene Period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present. As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the epoch are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the epoch are slightly uncertain. The name Oligocene was coined in 1854 by the German paleontologist Heinrich Ernst Beyrich from his studies of marine beds in Belgium and Germany. The name comes from the Ancient Greek ὀλίγος and καινός, and refers to the sparsity of extant forms of molluscs. The Oligocene is preceded by the Eocene Epoch and is followed by the Miocene Epoch. The Oligocene is the third and final epoch of the Paleogene Period.

The Pliocene is the epoch in the geologic time scale that extends from 5.333 million to 2.58 million years ago. It is the second and most recent epoch of the Neogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Pliocene follows the Miocene Epoch and is followed by the Pleistocene Epoch. Prior to the 2009 revision of the geologic time scale, which placed the four most recent major glaciations entirely within the Pleistocene, the Pliocene also included the Gelasian Stage, which lasted from 2.588 to 1.806 million years ago, and is now included in the Pleistocene.

The Paleogene is a geologic period and system that spans 43 million years from the end of the Cretaceous Period 66 million years ago (Mya) to the beginning of the Neogene Period 23.03 Mya. It is the beginning of the Cenozoic Era of the present Phanerozoic Eon. The earlier term Tertiary Period was used to define the span of time now covered by the Paleogene Period and subsequent Neogene Period; despite no longer being recognised as a formal stratigraphic term, 'Tertiary' is still widely found in earth science literature and remains in informal use. Paleogene is often abbreviated "Pg".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phanerozoic</span> Fourth and current eon of the geological timescale

The Phanerozoic Eon is the current geologic eon in the geologic time scale, and the one during which abundant animal and plant life has existed. It covers 538.8 million years to the present, and it began with the Cambrian Period, when animals first developed hard shells preserved in the fossil record. The time before the Phanerozoic, called the Precambrian, is now divided into the Hadean, Archaean and Proterozoic eons.

Tertiary is a widely used but obsolete term for the geologic period from 66 million to 2.6 million years ago. The period began with the demise of the non-avian dinosaurs in the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, at the start of the Cenozoic Era, and extended to the beginning of the Quaternary glaciation at the end of the Pliocene Epoch. The time span covered by the Tertiary has no exact equivalent in the current geologic time system, but it is essentially the merged Paleogene and Neogene periods, which are informally called the Early Tertiary and the Late Tertiary, respectively. The Tertiary established the Antarctic as an icy island continent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phorusrhacidae</span> Extinct family of flightless birds

Phorusrhacids, colloquially known as terror birds, are an extinct clade of large carnivorous flightless birds that were one of the largest species of apex predators in South America during the Cenozoic era; their conventionally accepted temporal range covers from 62 to 0.1 million years (Ma) ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Zanclean</span> Earliest age on the geologic time scale of the Pliocene era

The Zanclean is the lowest stage or earliest age on the geologic time scale of the Pliocene. It spans the time between 5.332 ± 0.005 Ma and 3.6 ± 0.005 Ma. It is preceded by the Messinian Age of the Miocene Epoch, and followed by the Piacenzian Age.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great American Interchange</span> Paleozoographic event resulting from the formation of the Isthmus of Panama

The Great American Biotic Interchange, also known as the Great American Interchange and the Great American Faunal Interchange, was an important late Cenozoic paleozoogeographic biotic interchange event in which land and freshwater fauna migrated from North America via Central America to South America and vice versa, as the volcanic Isthmus of Panama rose up from the sea floor and bridged the formerly separated continents. Although earlier dispersals had occurred, probably over water, the migration accelerated dramatically about 2.7 million years (Ma) ago during the Piacenzian age. It resulted in the joining of the Neotropic and Nearctic biogeographic realms definitively to form the Americas. The interchange is visible from observation of both biostratigraphy and nature (neontology). Its most dramatic effect is on the zoogeography of mammals, but it also gave an opportunity for reptiles, amphibians, arthropods, weak-flying or flightless birds, and even freshwater fish to migrate. Coastal and marine biota, however, was affected in the opposite manner; the formation of the Central American Isthmus caused what has been termed the Great American Schism, with significant diversification and extinction occurring as a result of the isolation of the Caribbean from the Pacific.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sparassodonta</span> Extinct order of mammals

Sparassodonta is an extinct order of carnivorous metatherian mammals native to South America, related to modern marsupials. They were once considered to be true marsupials, but are now thought to be a separate side branch that split before the last common ancestor of all modern marsupials. A number of these mammalian predators closely resemble placental predators that evolved separately on other continents, and are cited frequently as examples of convergent evolution. They were first described by Florentino Ameghino, from fossils found in the Santa Cruz beds of Patagonia. Sparassodonts were present throughout South America's long period of "splendid isolation" during the Cenozoic; during this time, they shared the niches for large warm-blooded predators with the flightless terror birds. Previously, it was thought that these mammals died out in the face of competition from "more competitive" placental carnivorans during the Pliocene Great American Interchange, but more recent research has showed that sparassodonts died out long before eutherian carnivores arrived in South America. Sparassodonts have been referred to as borhyaenoids by some authors, but currently the term Borhyaenoidea refers to a restricted subgroup of sparassodonts comprising borhyaenids and their close relatives.

The Messinian is in the geologic timescale the last age or uppermost stage of the Miocene. It spans the time between 7.246 ± 0.005 Ma and 5.333 ± 0.005 Ma. It follows the Tortonian and is followed by the Zanclean, the first age of the Pliocene.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Megalonychidae</span> Extinct family of sloths

Megalonychidae is an extinct family of sloths including the extinct Megalonyx. Megalonychids first appeared in the early Oligocene, about 35 million years (Ma) ago, in southern Argentina (Patagonia). There is actually one possible find dating to the Eocene, about 40 Ma ago, on Seymour Island in Antarctica. They first reached North America by island-hopping across the Central American Seaway, about 9 million years ago, prior to formation of the Isthmus of Panama about 2.7 million years ago. Some megalonychid lineages increased in size as time passed. The first species of these were small and may have been partly tree-dwelling, whereas the Pliocene species were already approximately half the size of the huge Late Pleistocene Megalonyx jeffersonii from the last ice age.

The natural history of New Zealand began when the landmass Zealandia broke away from the supercontinent Gondwana in the Cretaceous period. Before this time, Zealandia shared its past with Australia and Antarctica. Since this separation, the New Zealand landscape has evolved in physical isolation, although much of its current biota has more recent connections with species on other landmasses. The exclusively natural history of the country ended in about 1300 AD, when humans first settled, and the country's environmental history began. The period from 1300 AD to today coincides with the extinction of many of New Zealand's unique species that had evolved there.

Pliometanastes is an extinct genus of giant ground sloths of the family Megalonychidae endemic to North America during the Late Miocene epoch through very early Pliocene epoch. Its fossils have been found in Costa Rica and across the southern United States from California to Florida.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andean orogeny</span> Ongoing mountain-forming process in South America

The Andean orogeny is an ongoing process of orogeny that began in the Early Jurassic and is responsible for the rise of the Andes mountains. The orogeny is driven by a reactivation of a long-lived subduction system along the western margin of South America. On a continental scale the Cretaceous and Oligocene were periods of re-arrangements in the orogeny. Locally the details of the nature of the orogeny varies depending on the segment and the geological period considered.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turkana Basin</span> Large endorheic basin mainly in Kenya and Ethiopia

The greater Turkana Basin in East Africa determines a large endorheic basin, a drainage basin with no outflow centered around the north-southwards directed Gregory Rift system in Kenya and southern Ethiopia. The deepest point of the basin is the endorheic Lake Turkana, a brackish soda lake with a very high ecological productivity in the Gregory Rift.

The grit, not grass hypothesis is an evolutionary hypothesis that explains the evolution of high-crowned teeth, particularly in New World mammals. The hypothesis is that the ingestion of gritty soil is the primary driver of hypsodont tooth development, not the silica-rich composition of grass, as was previously thought.

This paleomammalogy list records new fossil mammal taxa that were described during the year 2010, as well as notes other significant paleomammalogy discoveries and events which occurred during that year.

References

  1. ↑ Krijgsman, W.; Garcés, M.; Langereis, C. G.; Daams, R.; Van Dam, J.; Van Der Meulen, A. J.; Agustí, J.; Cabrera, L. (1996). "A new chronology for the middle to late Miocene continental record in Spain". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 142 (3–4): 367–380. Bibcode:1996E&PSL.142..367K. doi:10.1016/0012-821X(96)00109-4.
  2. ↑ Retallack, G. J. (1997). "Neogene Expansion of the North American Prairie". PALAIOS. 12 (4): 380–390. doi:10.2307/3515337. JSTOR   3515337 . Retrieved 2008-02-11.
  3. ↑ "ICS Timescale Chart" (PDF). www.stratigraphy.org.
  4. ↑ Steininger, Fritz F.; M. P. Aubry; W. A. Berggren; M. Biolzi; A. M. Borsetti; Julie E. Cartlidge; F. Cati; R. Corfield; R. Gelati; S. Iaccarino; C. Napoleone; F. Ottner; F. Rögl; R. Roetzel; S. Spezzaferri; F. Tateo; G. Villa; D. Zevenboom (1997). "The Global Stratotype Section and Point (GSSP) for the base of the Neogene" (PDF). Episodes. 20 (1): 23–28. doi: 10.18814/epiiugs/1997/v20i1/005 .
  5. ↑ Van Couvering, John; Castradori, Davide; Cita, Maria; Hilgen, Frederik; Rio, Domenico (September 2000). "The base of the Zanclean Stage and of the Pliocene Series" (PDF). Episodes. 23 (3): 179–187. doi: 10.18814/epiiugs/2000/v23i3/005 .
  6. ↑ "Miocene". Dictionary.com Unabridged (Online). n.d.
  7. ↑ "Miocene". Merriam-Webster Dictionary .
  8. ↑ See:
  9. ↑ Harper, Douglas. "Miocene". Online Etymology Dictionary . Retrieved 2016-01-20.
  10. ↑ Lyell, Charles (1833). Principles of Geology, …. Vol. 3. London, England: John Murray. p. 54.
  11. ↑ Gibson, M. E.; McCoy, J.; O’Keefe, J. M. K.; Otaño, N. B. Nuñez; Warny, S.; Pound, M. J. (2022). "Reconstructing Terrestrial Paleoclimates: A Comparison of the Co-Existence Approach, Bayesian and Probability Reconstruction Techniques Using the UK Neogene". Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. 37 (2): e2021PA004358. Bibcode:2022PaPa...37.4358G. doi:10.1029/2021PA004358. S2CID   245937316.
  12. ↑ Steinthorsdottir, M.; Coxall, H. K.; Boer, A. M. de; Huber, M.; Barbolini, N.; Bradshaw, C. D.; Burls, N. J.; Feakins, S. J.; Gasson, E.; Henderiks, J.; Holbourn, A. E.; Kiel, S.; Kohn, M. J.; Knorr, G.; Kürschner, W. M.; Lear, C. H.; Liebrand, D.; Lunt, D. J.; Mörs, T.; Pearson, P. N.; Pound, M. J.; Stoll, H.; Strömberg, C. a. E. (2021). "The Miocene: The Future of the Past". Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology. 36 (4): e2020PA004037. Bibcode:2021PaPa...36.4037S. doi:10.1029/2020PA004037. S2CID   234434792.
  13. ↑ "BBC Nature - Miocene epoch videos, news and facts". BBC. Retrieved 2016-11-13.
  14. ↑ Zhisheng, An; Kutzbach, John E.; Prell, Warren L.; Porter, Stephen C. (3 May 2001). "Evolution of Asian monsoons and phased uplift of the Himalaya–Tibetan plateau since Late Miocene times". Nature. 411 (6833): 62–66. Bibcode:2001Natur.411...62Z. doi:10.1038/35075035. PMID   11333976. S2CID   4398615.
  15. ↑ "International Chronostratigraphic Chart" (PDF). International Commission on Stratigraphy . Retrieved 12 November 2021.
  16. ↑ Stange, Madlen; Sánchez-Villagra, Marcelo R; Salzburger, Walter; Matschiner, Michael (1 July 2018). "Bayesian Divergence-Time Estimation with Genome-Wide Single-Nucleotide Polymorphism Data of Sea Catfishes (Ariidae) Supports Miocene Closure of the Panamanian Isthmus". Systematic Biology. 67 (4): 681–699. doi: 10.1093/sysbio/syy006 . PMC   6005153 . PMID   29385552.
  17. ↑ Torsvik, Trond H.; Cocks, L. Robin M. (2017). Earth history and palaeogeography. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 264. ISBN   9781107105324.
  18. 1 2 Torsvik & Cocks 2017, p. 261-264.
  19. ↑ Torsvik & Cocks 2017, p. 259, 267, 287.
  20. ↑ Torsvik & Cocks 2017, p. 267.
  21. ↑ Wichura, Henry; Bousquet, Romain; Oberhänsli, Roland; Strecker, Manfred R.; Trauth, Martin H. (June 2010). "Evidence for middle Miocene uplift of the East African Plateau". Geology. 38 (6): 543–546. Bibcode:2010Geo....38..543W. doi:10.1130/G31022.1.
  22. ↑ Mao, Xuegang; Retallack, Gregory (January 2019). "Late Miocene drying of central Australia". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology. 514: 292–304. Bibcode:2019PPP...514..292M. doi:10.1016/j.palaeo.2018.10.008. S2CID   135124769.
  23. ↑ Torfstein, Adi; Steinberg, Josh (2020-08-14). "The Oligo–Miocene closure of the Tethys Ocean and evolution of the proto-Mediterranean Sea". Scientific Reports. 10 (1): 13817. doi:10.1038/s41598-020-70652-4. ISSN   2045-2322. PMC   7427807 . PMID   32796882.
  24. 1 2 Rossetti, Dilce F.; Bezerra, Francisco H.R.; Dominguez, José M.L. (2013). "Late Oligocene–Miocene transgressions along the equatorial and eastern margins of Brazil". Earth-Science Reviews . 123: 87–112. Bibcode:2013ESRv..123...87R. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2013.04.005.
  25. 1 2 Macharé, José; Devries, Thomas; Barron, John; Fourtanier, Élisabeth (1988). "Oligo-Miocene transgression along the Pacifie margin of South America: new paleontological and geological evidence from the Pisco basin (Peru)" (PDF). Geódynamique. 3 (1–2): 25–37.
  26. 1 2 Encinas, Alfonso; Pérez, Felipe; Nielsen, Sven; Finger, Kenneth L.; Valencia, Victor; Duhart, Paul (2014). "Geochronologic and paleontologic evidence for a Pacific–Atlantic connection during the late Oligocene–early Miocene in the Patagonian Andes (43–44°S)". Journal of South American Earth Sciences . 55: 1–18. Bibcode:2014JSAES..55....1E. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2014.06.008. hdl: 10533/130517 .
  27. ↑ Nielsen, S.N. (2005). "Cenozoic Strombidae, Aporrhaidae, and Struthiolariidae (Gastropoda, Stromboidea) from Chile: their significance to biogeography of faunas and climate of the south-east Pacific". Journal of Paleontology . 79: 1120–1130. doi:10.1666/0022-3360(2005)079[1120:csaasg]2.0.co;2. S2CID   130207579.
  28. 1 2 Guillame, Benjamin; Martinod, Joseph; Husson, Laurent; Roddaz, Martin; Riquelme, Rodrigo (2009). "Neogene uplift of central eastern Patagonia: Dynamic response to active spreading ridge subduction?". Tectonics . 28.
  29. ↑ Cande, S.C.; Leslie, R.B. (1986). "Late Cenozoic Tectonics of the Southern Chile Trench". Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth. 91 (B1): 471–496. Bibcode:1986JGR....91..471C. doi:10.1029/jb091ib01p00471.
  30. ↑ Guillaume, Benjamin; Gautheron, Cécile; Simon-Labric, Thibaud; Martinod, Joseph; Roddaz, Martin; Douville, Eric (2013). "Dynamic topography control on Patagonian relief evolution as inferred from low temperature thermochronology". Earth and Planetary Science Letters. 3: 157–167. Bibcode:2013E&PSL.364..157G. doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2012.12.036.
  31. ↑ Folguera, Andrés; Encinas, Alfonso; Echaurren, Andrés; Gianni, Guido; Orts, Darío; Valencia, Víctor; Carrasco, Gabriel (2018). "Constraints on the Neogene growth of the central Patagonian Andes at thelatitude of the Chile triple junction (45–47°S) using U/Pb geochronology insynorogenic strata". Tectonophysics . 744: 134–154. Bibcode:2018Tectp.744..134F. doi:10.1016/j.tecto.2018.06.011. hdl: 11336/88399 . S2CID   135214581.
  32. ↑ Larsen, H. C.; Saunders, A. D.; Clift, P. D.; Beget, J.; Wei, W.; Spezzaferri, S. (13 May 1994). "Seven Million Years of Glaciation in Greenland". Science. 264 (5161): 952–955. Bibcode:1994Sci...264..952L. doi:10.1126/science.264.5161.952. PMID   17830083. S2CID   10031704.
  33. ↑ John, Kristen E. K. St.; Krissek, Lawrence A. (28 June 2008). "The late Miocene to Pleistocene ice-rafting history of southeast Greenland". Boreas. 31 (1): 28–35. doi:10.1111/j.1502-3885.2002.tb01053.x. S2CID   128606939.
  34. ↑ Funder, Svend; Abrahamsen, Niels; Bennike, Ole; Feyling-Hanssen, Rolf W. (1 August 1985). "Forested Arctic: Evidence from North Greenland". Geology. 13 (8): 542–546. Bibcode:1985Geo....13..542F. doi:10.1130/0091-7613(1985)13<542:FAEFNG>2.0.CO;2.
  35. ↑ Carolin, Nora; Bajpai, Sunil; Maurya, Abhayanand Singh; Schwarzhans, Werner (2022). "New perspectives on late Tethyan Neogene biodiversity development of fishes based on Miocene (~ 17 Ma) otoliths from southwestern India". PalZ: 38. doi:10.1007/s12542-022-00623-9. S2CID   249184395.
  36. ↑ Attorre, F.; Francesconi, F.; Taleb, N.; Scholte, P.; Saed, A.; Alfo, M.; Bruno, F. (2007). "Will dragonblood survive the next period of climate change? Current and future potential distribution of Dracaena cinnabari (Socotra, Yemen)". Biological Conservation. 138 (3–4): 430–439. doi:10.1016/j.biocon.2007.05.009. hdl:11573/234206.
  37. ↑ Retallack, Gregory (2001). "Cenozoic Expansion of Grasslands and Climatic Cooling" (PDF). The Journal of Geology . University of Chicago Press. 109 (4): 407–426. Bibcode:2001JG....109..407R. doi:10.1086/320791. S2CID   15560105. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-05-06.
  38. ↑ Osborne, C.P.; Beerling, D.J. (2006). "Nature's green revolution: the remarkable evolutionary rise of C4 plants". Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 361 (1465): 173–194. doi:10.1098/rstb.2005.1737. PMC   1626541 . PMID   16553316.
  39. ↑ Wolfram M. Kürschner, Zlatko Kvacek & David L. Dilcher (2008). "The impact of Miocene atmospheric carbon dioxide fluctuations on climate and the evolution of terrestrial ecosystems". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences . 105 (2): 449–53. Bibcode:2008PNAS..105..449K. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0708588105 . PMC   2206556 . PMID   18174330.
  40. ↑ Susanne S. Renner (2011). "Living fossil younger than thought". Science . 334 (6057): 766–767. Bibcode:2011Sci...334..766R. doi:10.1126/science.1214649. PMID   22076366. S2CID   206537832.
  41. ↑ "Eucalyptus fossils in New Zealand - the thin end of the wedge - Mike Pole". 2014-09-22.
  42. ↑ Steven M. Stanley (1999). Earth System History. New York: Freeman. pp. 525–526. ISBN   0-7167-2882-6.
  43. ↑ Matsumoto R, Evans SE (2010). "Choristoderes and the freshwater assemblages of Laurasia". Journal of Iberian Geology . 36 (2): 253–274. doi: 10.5209/rev_jige.2010.v36.n2.11 .
  44. ↑ Rougier, Guillermo W.; Wible, John R.; Beck, Robin M. D.; Apesteguía, Sebastian (2012-12-04). "The Miocene mammal Necrolestes demonstrates the survival of a Mesozoic nontherian lineage into the late Cenozoic of South America". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 109 (49): 20053–20058. Bibcode:2012PNAS..10920053R. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1212997109 . ISSN   0027-8424. PMC   3523863 . PMID   23169652.
  45. ↑ Furió, Marc; Ruiz-Sánchez, Francisco J.; Crespo, Vicente D.; Freudenthal, Matthijs; Montoya, Plinio (July 2012). "The southernmost Miocene occurrence of the last European herpetotheriid Amphiperatherium frequens (Metatheria, Mammalia)". Comptes Rendus Palevol. 11 (5): 371–377. doi:10.1016/j.crpv.2012.01.004.
  46. ↑ Bennett, C. Verity; Upchurch, Paul; Goin, Francisco J.; Goswami, Anjali (2018-02-06). "Deep time diversity of metatherian mammals: implications for evolutionary history and fossil-record quality". Paleobiology. 44 (2): 171–198. doi:10.1017/pab.2017.34. ISSN   0094-8373. S2CID   46796692.
  47. ↑ Crespo, Vicente D.; Goin, Francisco J.; Pickford, Martin (2022-06-03). "The last African metatherian". Fossil Record. 25 (1): 173–186. doi:10.3897/fr.25.80706. ISSN   2193-0074. S2CID   249349445.
  48. ↑ Yirka, Bob (August 15, 2012). "New genetic data shows humans and great apes diverged earlier than thought". phys.org.
  49. ↑ Begun, David. "Fossil Record of Miocene Hominoids" (PDF). University of Toronto. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 30, 2013. Retrieved July 11, 2014.
  50. 1 2 Holman, J. Alan (2000). Fossil Snakes of North America (First ed.). Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press. pp. 284–323. ISBN   0253337216.
  51. ↑ Peter Klimley & David Ainley (1996). Great White Sharks: the Biology of Carcharodon carcharias. Academic Press. ISBN   0-12-415031-4. Archived from the original on 2012-10-12. Retrieved 2011-08-12.
  52. ↑ Dooley, Alton C.; Fraser, Nicholas C.; Luo, Zhe-Xi (2004). "The earliest known member of the rorqual—gray whale clade (Mammalia, Cetacea)". Journal of Vertebrate Paleontology. 24 (2): 453–463. doi:10.1671/2401. ISSN   0272-4634. S2CID   84970052.
  53. 1 2 Olivier Lambert; Giovanni Bianucci; Klaas Post; Christian de Muizon; Rodolfo Salas-Gismondi; Mario Urbina; Jelle Reumer (2010). "The giant bite of a new raptorial sperm whale from the Miocene epoch of Peru". Nature . 466 (7302): 105–108. Bibcode:2010Natur.466..105L. doi:10.1038/nature09067. PMID   20596020. S2CID   4369352.
  54. ↑ Orangel A. Aguilera, Douglas Riff & Jean Bocquentin-Villanueva (2006). "A new giant Pusussaurus (Crocodyliformes, Alligatoridae) from the Upper Miocene Urumaco Formation, Venezuela" (PDF). Journal of Systematic Palaeontology . 4 (3): 221–232. doi:10.1017/S147720190600188X. S2CID   85950121. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-03-29.
  55. ↑ Cidade, Giovanne M.; Fortier, Daniel; Hsiou, Annie Schmaltz (March 2019). "The crocodylomorph fauna of the Cenozoic of South America and its evolutionary history: a review". Journal of South American Earth Sciences. 90: 392–411. Bibcode:2019JSAES..90..392C. doi:10.1016/j.jsames.2018.12.026. S2CID   134902094.
  56. ↑ Lawrence G. Barnes & Kiyoharu Hirota (1994). "Miocene pinnipeds of the otariid subfamily Allodesminae in the North Pacific Ocean: systematics and relationships". Island Arc . 3 (4): 329–360. doi:10.1111/j.1440-1738.1994.tb00119.x.
  57. ↑ Kenneth G. Miller & Richard G. Fairbanks (1983). "Evidence for Oligocene−Middle Miocene abyssal circulation changes in the western North Atlantic". Nature . 306 (5940): 250–253. Bibcode:1983Natur.306..250M. doi:10.1038/306250a0. S2CID   4337071.
  58. ↑ Bouley, S.; Baratoux, D.; Baratoux, L.; Colas, F.; Dauvergne, J.; Losiak, A.; Vaubaillon, J.; Bourdeille, C.; Jullien, A.; Ibadinov, K. (American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2011) (2011). "Karakul: a young complex impact crater in the Pamir, Tajikistan". AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts. 2011: P31A–1701. Bibcode:2011AGUFM.P31A1701B.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  59. ↑ Gurov, E. P., Gurova, H.P., Rakitskaya, R.B. and Yamnichenko,A.Yu. (1993) (1993). "The Karakul depression in Pamirs - the first impact structure in central Asia" (PDF). Lunar and Planetary Science XXIV, Pp. 591-592: 591. Bibcode:1993LPI....24..591G.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.