As Earth went from the Oligocene through the Miocene and into the Pliocene, the climate slowly cooled towards a series ofice ages.[11][12] The Miocene boundaries are not marked by distinct global events but by regionally defined transitions from the warmer Oligocene to the cooler Pliocene Epoch.
During the Early Miocene, Afro-Arabia collided with Eurasia, severing the connection between the Mediterranean and Indian Oceans and enabling the interchange of fauna between the continents, including the dispersal ofproboscideans andhominoids[13] into Eurasia. During the late Miocene, the connections between the Atlantic and Mediterranean closed, causing the Mediterranean Sea to almost completely evaporate. This event is referred to as the "Messinian salinity crisis". Then, at the Miocene–Pliocene boundary, theStrait of Gibraltar opened, and the Mediterranean refilled. That event is referred to as the "Zanclean flood".
Also during theearly Miocene (specifically the Aquitanian and Burdigalian Stages), theapes first evolved, began diversifying, and became widespread throughout theOld World. Around the end of this epoch, theancestors of humans had split away from the ancestors of thechimpanzees and had begun following 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 the seas of the Miocene,kelp forests made their first appearance and soon became one of Earth's most productive ecosystems.[14]
The plants and animals of the Miocene were recognizably modern. Mammals and birds were well established.Whales,pinnipeds, andkelp spread.
The Miocene is of particular interest to geologists and palaeoclimatologists because major phases of thegeology of the Himalaya occurred during that epoch, affectingmonsoonal patterns in Asia, which were interlinked withglacial periods in the northern hemisphere.[15]
Regionally, other systems are used, based on characteristic land mammals; some of them overlap with the preceding Oligocene and following Pliocene Epochs:
Japan during the Early MioceneThe Mediterranean during the Late Miocene
Continents continued todrift toward their present positions. Of the modern geologic features, only the land bridge betweenSouth America andNorth America was absent,[17] although South America was approaching the westernsubduction zone in thePacific Ocean, causing both the rise of theAndes and a southward extension of theMeso-American peninsula.[18]
Mountain building took place in westernNorth America,Europe, andEast Asia.[19] Both continental and marine Miocene deposits are common worldwide with marine outcrops common near modern shorelines. Well studied continental exposures occur in the North AmericanGreat Plains and inArgentina.
The global trend was towards increasing aridity caused primarily by global cooling reducing the ability of the atmosphere to absorb moisture,[20] particularly after 7 to 8 million years ago.[21] Uplift ofEast Africa in the late Miocene was partly responsible for the shrinking oftropical rain forests in that region,[22] andAustralia got drier as it entered a zone of low rainfall in the Late Miocene.[23]
At the beginning of the Miocene, the northern margin of theArabian plate, then part of the African landmass, collided with Eurasia; as a result, theTethys seaway continued to shrink and then disappeared asAfrica collided withEurasia in theTurkish–Arabian region.[19] The first step of this closure occurred 20 Ma, reducing water mass exchange by 90%, while the second step occurred around 13.8 Ma, coincident with a major expansion of Antarctic glaciers.[25] This severed the connection between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and formed the present land connection between Afro-Arabia and Eurasia.[26] The subsequentuplift of mountains in the westernMediterranean region and a global fall in sea levels combined to cause a temporary drying up of the Mediterranean Sea (known as theMessinian salinity crisis) near the end of the Miocene.[27]TheParatethys underwent a significant transgression during the early Middle Miocene.[28] Around 13.8 Ma, during a global sea level drop, the Eastern Paratethys was cut off from the global ocean by the closure of the Bârlad Strait, effectively turning it into a saltwater lake. From 13.8 to 13.36 Ma, an evaporite period similar to the later Messinian salinity crisis in the Mediterranean ensued in the Central Paratethys, cut off from sources of freshwater input by its separation from the Eastern Paratethys. From 13.36 to 12.65 Ma, the Central Paratethys was characterised by open marine conditions, before the reopening of the Bârlad Strait resulted in a shift to brackish-marine conditions in the Central Paratethys, causing the Badenian-Sarmatian Extinction Event. As a result of the Bârlad Strait's reopening, the lake levels of the Eastern Paratethys dropped as it once again became a sea.[29]
TheFram Strait opened during the Miocene and acted as the only throughflow for Atlantic Water into the Arctic Ocean until theQuaternary period. Due to regional uplift of the continental shelf, this water could not move through the Barents Seaway in the Miocene.[30]
The modern dayMekong Delta took shape after 8 Ma.[31]Geochemistry of the Qiongdongnan Basin in the northernSouth China Sea indicates thePearl River was a major source of sediment flux into the sea during the Early Miocene and was a major fluvial system as in the present.[32]
During theOligocene and Early Miocene, the coast of northern Brazil,[33] Colombia,south-central Peru, central Chile and large swathes of inlandPatagonia were subject to amarine transgression.[34] The transgressions in the west coast of South America are thought to be caused by a regional phenomenon while the steadily risingcentral segment of the Andes represents an exception.[34] While there are numerous registers of Oligocene–Miocene transgressions around the world it is doubtful that these correlate.[33]
It is thought that the Oligocene–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 inLa Cascada Formation.[35][36] Connection would have occurred through narrowepicontinental seaways that formed channels in adissected topography.[35][37]
TheAntarctic Plate started tosubduct beneath South America 14 million years ago in the Miocene, forming theChile Triple Junction. At first the Antarctic Plate subducted only in the southernmost tip of Patagonia, meaning that the Chile Triple Junction lay near theStrait of Magellan. As the southern part ofNazca Plate and theChile 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.[38] Theasthenospheric window associated to the triple junction disturbed previous patterns ofmantle convection beneath Patagonia inducing an uplift of ca. 1 km that reversed the Oligocene–Miocene transgression.[37][39]
Far northern Australia was monsoonal during the Miocene. Although northern Australia is often believed to have been much wetter during the Miocene, this interpretation may be an artefact of preservation bias of riparian and lacustrine plants;[41] this finding has itself been challenged by other papers.[42] Western Australia, like today, was arid, particularly so during the Middle Miocene.[43]
Climates remained moderately warm, although the slow global cooling that eventually led to thePleistoceneglaciations 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 theOligocene.[citation needed] The climate of the Miocene has been suggested as a good analogue for future warmer climates caused byanthropogenic global warming,[11] with this being especially true of the global climate during theMiddle Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO),[12][44][45] because the last time carbon dioxide levels were comparable to projected future atmospheric carbon dioxide levels resulting from anthropogenicclimate change was during the MMCO.[46] The Ross Sea margin of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) was highly dynamic during the Early Miocene.[47]
The Miocene began with the Early Miocene Cool Event (Mi-1) around 23 million years ago, which marked the start of the Early Miocene Cool Interval (EMCI).[48] This cool event occurred immediately after the Oligocene-Miocene Transition (OMT) during a major expansion of Antarctica's ice sheets,[49] but was not associated with a significant drop in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels.[50] Both continental and oceanic thermal gradients in mid-latitudes during the Early Miocene were very similar to those in the present.[51] Global cooling caused the East Asian Summer Monsoon (EASM) to begin to take on its modern form during the Early Miocene.[52] From 22.1 to 19.7 Ma, the Xining Basin experienced relative warmth and humidity amidst a broader aridification trend.[53]
The EMCI ended 18 million years ago, giving way to the Middle Miocene Warm Interval (MMWI), the warmest part of which was the MMCO that began 16 million years ago.[48] As the world transitioned into the MMCO, carbon dioxide concentrations varied between 300 and 500 ppm.[54] Global annual mean surface temperature during the MMCO was about 18.4 °C.[55] MMCO warmth was driven by the activity of theColumbia River Basalts[56][57][58] and enhanced by decreasedalbedo from the reduction of deserts and expansion of forests.[59]Climate modelling suggests additional, currently unknown, factors also worked to create the warm conditions of the MMCO.[60] The MMCO saw the expansion of the tropical climatic zone to much larger than its current size.[61] The July ITCZ, the zone of maximal monsoonal rainfall, moved to the north, increasing precipitation over southern China whilst simultaneously decreasing it over Indochina during the EASM.[62] Western Australia was at this time characterised by exceptional aridity.[43] In Antarctica, average summer temperatures on land reached 10 °C.[63] In the oceans, thelysocline shoaled by approximately half of a kilometre during warm phases that corresponded toorbital eccentricity maxima.[64] The MMCO ended around 14 million years ago,[48] when global temperatures fell in theMiddle Miocene Climate Transition (MMCT).[65] Abrupt increases inopal deposition indicate this cooling was driven by enhanced drawdown of carbon dioxide via silicate weathering.[66] The MMCT caused asea surface temperature (SST) drop of approximately 6 °C in the North Atlantic.[67] The drop in benthic foraminiferal δ18O values was most noticeable in the waters around Antarctica, suggesting cooling was most intense there.[68] Around this time the Mi3b glacial event (a massive expansion of Antarctic glaciers) occurred.[69] The East Antarctic Ice Sheet (EAIS) markedly stabilised following the MMCT.[70] The intensification of glaciation caused a decoherence of sediment deposition from the 405 kyr eccentricity cycle.[71]
Restoration of the volcanic eruption in Harney Basin, of the western US, represented by theRattlesnake Formation
The MMWI ended about 11 Ma, when the Late Miocene Cool Interval (LMCI) started.[48] A major but transient warming occurred around 10.8-10.7 Ma.[72] During the Late Miocene, the Earth's climate began to display a high degree of similarity to that of the present day[according to whom?][citation needed]. The 173 kyrobliquity modulation cycle governed by Earth's interactions with Saturn became detectable in the Late Miocene.[73] By 12 Ma,Oregon was a savanna akin to that of the western margins of theSierra Nevada of northernCalifornia.[74] Central Australia became progressively drier,[75] although southwestern Australia experienced significant wettening from around 12 to 8 Ma.[43] The South Asian Winter Monsoon (SAWM) underwent strengthening ~9.2–8.5 Ma.[76] From 7.9 to 5.8 Ma, the East Asian Winter Monsoon (EAWM) became stronger synchronously with a southward shift of the subarctic front.[77]Greenland may have begun to have large glaciers as early as 8 to 7 Ma,[78][79] although the climate for the most part remained warm enough to support forests there well into the Pliocene.[80] Zhejiang, China was noticeably more humid than today.[81] In theGreat Rift Valley ofKenya, there was a gradual and progressive trend of increasing aridification, though it was not unidirectional, and wet humid episodes continued to occur.[82] Between 7 and 5.3 Ma, temperatures dropped sharply again in the Late Miocene Cooling (LMC),[48] most likely as a result of a decline in atmospheric carbon dioxide[83][84][85] and a drop in the amplitude of Earth's obliquity,[86] and theAntarctic ice sheet was approaching its present-day size and thickness. Ocean temperatures plummeted to near-modern values during the LMC;[87] extratropicalsea surface temperatures dropped substantially by approximately 7–9 °C.[88] 41 kyr obliquity cycles became the dominant orbital climatic control 7.7 Ma and this dominance strengthened 6.4 Ma.[89] Benthic δ18O values show significant glaciation occurred from 6.26 to 5.50 Ma, during which glacial-interglacial cycles were governed by the 41 kyr obliquity cycle.[90] A major reorganisation of thecarbon cycle occurred approximately 6 Ma, causing continental carbon reservoirs to no longer expand during cold spells, as they had done during cold periods in the Oligocene and most of the Miocene.[91] At the end of the Miocene, global temperatures rose again as theamplitude of Earth's obliquity increased,[86] which caused increased aridity in Central Asia.[92] Around 5.5 Ma, the EAWM underwent a period of rapid intensification.[93]
Life during the Miocene Epoch was mostly supported by the two newly formedbiomes,kelp forests and grasslands[according to whom?][citation needed]. Grasslands allow for more grazers, such ashorses,rhinoceroses, andhippos. Ninety-five percent of modern plants existed by the end of this epoch[citation needed]. Modern bony fish genera were established.[94] A modern-style latitudinal biodiversity gradient appeared ~15 Ma.[95]
The higher organic content and water retention of the deeper and richergrassland soils, with long-termburial of carbon in sediments, produced acarbon and water vapor sink. This, combined with higher surface albedo and lowerevapotranspiration of grassland, contributed to a cooler, drier climate.[97]C4 grasses, which are able to assimilatecarbon dioxide and water more efficiently thanC3 grasses, expanded to become ecologically significant near the end of the Miocene between 6 and 7 million years ago,[98] although they did not expand northward during the Late Miocene.[99] The expansion of grasslands andradiations among terrestrial herbivores correlates to fluctuations in CO2.[100] One study, however, has attributed the expansion of grasslands not to a CO2 drop but to the increasing seasonality and aridity, coupled with a monsoon climate, which made wildfires highly prevalent compared to before.[101] The Late Miocene expansion of grasslands had cascading effects on the global carbon cycle, evidenced by the imprint it left in carbon isotope records.[102]
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".[103]Eucalyptus fossil leaves occur in the Miocene ofNew Zealand, where the genus is not native today, but have been introduced fromAustralia.[104]
Cameloid footprint (Lamaichnum alfi Sarjeant and Reynolds, 1999; convex hyporelief) from theBarstow Formation (Miocene) of Rainbow Basin, California.Life restoration ofDaeodon
Both marine and continentalfauna were fairly modern, although marine mammals were less numerous. Only in isolated South America and Australia did widely divergent fauna exist.
In Eurasia, genus richness shifted southward to lower latitudes from the Early to the Middle Miocene.[105] Europe's large mammal diversity significantly declined during the Late Miocene.[106]
In the Early Miocene, several Oligocene groups were still diverse, includingnimravids,entelodonts, and three-toed equids. As 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 recognizablecanids,bears,red pandas,procyonids,equids,beavers,deer,camelids, andwhales, along with now-extinct groups likeborophagine canids, certaingomphotheres,three-toed horses, and hornless rhinos likeTeleoceras andAphelos. The late Miocene also marks the extinction of the last-surviving members of thehyaenodonts. Islands began to form between South and North America in the Late Miocene, allowing ground sloths likeThinobadistes toisland-hop to North America. The expansion ofsilica-richC4 grasses led to worldwide extinctions of herbivorous species withouthigh-crowned teeth.[107]Mustelids diversified into their largest forms as terrestrial predators likeEkorus,Eomellivora, andMegalictis and bunodont otters likeEnhydriodon andSivaonyx appeared.Eulipotyphlans were widespread in Europe, being less diverse in Southern Europe than farther north due to the aridity of the former.[108]
Unequivocally-recognizabledabbling ducks,plovers,typical owls,cockatoos andcrows 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[citation needed].
The youngest representatives ofChoristodera, an extinct order of aquatic reptiles that first appeared in theMiddle Jurassic, are known from the Miocene of Europe, belonging to the genusLazarussuchus, which had been the only known surviving genus of the group since the beginning of the Eocene.[109]
The last known representatives of the archaic primitive mammal orderMeridiolestida, which dominated South America during the Late Cretaceous, are known from the Miocene of Patagonia, represented by the mole-likeNecrolestes.[110][111]
The youngest known representatives ofmetatherians (the broader grouping to whichmarsupials belong) in Europe, Asia and Africa are known from the Miocene, including the European herpetotheriidAmphiperatherium, the peradectidsSiamoperadectes andSinoperadectes from Asia,[112][113] and the possible herpetotheriidMorotodon from the late Early Miocene of Uganda.[114]
Approximately 100 species ofapes lived during this time[citation needed], 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 modernhominid clade, but molecular evidence indicates this ape lived between 18 and 13 million years ago.[115] The firsthominins (bipedal apes of the human lineage) appeared in Africa at the very end of the Miocene, includingSahelanthropus,Orrorin, and an early form ofArdipithecus (A. kadabba). Thechimpanzee–human divergence is thought to have occurred at this time.[116] The evolution of bipedalism in apes at the end of the Miocene instigated an increased rate of faunal turnover in Africa.[117] In contrast, European apes met their end at the end of the Miocene due to increased habitat uniformity.[118]
The expansion of grasslands in North America also led to an explosive radiation among snakes.[119] 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 ofvipers andelapids in North America and the significant diversification ofColubridae (including the origin of many modern genera such asNerodia,Lampropeltis,Pituophis andPantherophis).[119]
Arthropods were abundant, including in areas such as Tibet where they have traditionally been thought to be undiverse.[120]Neoisopterans diversified and expanded into areas they previously were absent from, such as Madagascar and Australia.[121]
Corals suffered a significant local decline along the northeastern coast of Australia during the Tortonian, most likely due to warming seawater.[122]
Cetaceans attained their greatest diversity during the Miocene,[123] with over 20 recognized genera ofbaleen whales in comparison to only six living genera.[124] This diversification correlates with emergence of gigantic macro-predators such as megatoothed sharks and raptorialsperm whales.[125] Prominent examples areO. megalodon andL. melvillei.[125] Other notable large sharks wereO. chubutensis,Isurus hastalis, andHemipristis serra.
Crocodilians also showed signs of diversification during the Miocene. The largest form among them was a giganticcaimanPurussaurus which inhabited South America.[126] Another gigantic form was afalse gharialRhamphosuchus, which inhabited modern ageIndia. A strange form,Mourasuchus also thrived alongsidePurussaurus. This species developed a specialized filter-feeding mechanism, and it likely preyed upon small fauna despite its gigantic size.[127]
The youngest members ofSebecidae, a clade of large terrestrial predatorycrocodyliformes distantly related to modern crocodilians, from which they likely diverged over 180 million years ago, are known from the Miocene of South America.[127][128]
The lastDesmostylians thrived during this period before becoming the only extinct marine mammal order.
Thepinnipeds, which appeared near the end of the Oligocene, became more aquatic. A prominent genus wasAllodesmus.[129] A ferociouswalrus,Pelagiarctos may have preyed upon other species of pinnipeds includingAllodesmus.
New Zealand's Miocene fossil record is particularly rich. Marine deposits showcase a variety ofcetaceans andpenguins, illustrating the evolution of both groups into modern representatives. The early MioceneSaint Bathans Fauna is the only Cenozoic terrestrial fossil record of the landmass, showcasing a wide variety of not onlybird species, including early representatives of clades such asmoa,kiwi andadzebills, but also a diverse herpetofauna ofsphenodontians,crocodiles andturtles as well as a rich terrestrial mammal fauna composed of various species ofbats and the enigmaticSaint Bathans Mammal.
Microbial life in the igneous crust of theFennoscandian Shield shifted from being dominated bymethanogens to being primarily composed ofsulphate-reducing prokaryotes. The change resulted from fracture reactivation during the Pyrenean-Alpine orogeny, enabling sulphate-reducing microbes to permeate into the Fennoscandian Shield via descending surficial waters.[130]
Diatom diversity was inversely correlated with carbon dioxide levels and global temperatures during the Miocene. Most modern lineages of diatoms appeared by the Late Miocene.[131]
There is evidence fromoxygen isotopes atDeep Sea Drilling Program sites that ice began to build up in Antarctica about 36 Ma during theEocene.[citation needed] Further marked decreases in temperature during theMiddle 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).[citation needed] Oceans cooled partly due to the formation of theAntarctic Circumpolar Current, and about 15 million years ago the ice cap in theSouthern Hemisphere started to grow to its present form. The Greenland ice cap developed later, in theMiddle Pliocene time, about 3 million years ago.[citation needed]
The "Middle Miocene disruption" refers to a wave ofextinctions 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 theLanghian 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 expansion of the East Antarctic ice sheet.[132] The closure of the Indonesian Throughflow, which caused an accumulation of warm water in the western Pacific that then spread eastward and reduced upwelling in the eastern Pacific, may also have been responsible.[133] 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.[132] Barium and uranium became enriched in seafloor sediments.[134]
A largeimpact event occurred either during the Miocene (23–5.3 Ma) or the Pliocene (5.3–2.6 Ma). The event formed theKarakul crater (52 km diameter) inTajikistan, which is estimated to have an age of less than 23 Ma[135] or less than 5 Ma.[136]
Lyell, Charles (1833).Principles of Geology, …. Vol. 3. London, England: John Murray. p. 54. From p. 54: "The next antecedent tertiary epoch we shall name Miocene, from μειων, minor, and χαινος, recens, a minority only of fossil shells imbedded in the formations of this period, being of recent species."
^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.
^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.97:43–80.doi:10.1007/s12542-022-00623-9.S2CID249184395.
^Bouley S, Baratoux D, Baratoux L, Colas F, Dauvergne J, Losiak A, Vaubaillon J, Bourdeille C, Jullien A, Ibadinov K (2011). "Karakul: a young complex impact crater in the Pamir, Tajikistan".American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting Abstracts.2011: P31A–1701.Bibcode:2011AGUFM.P31A1701B.
Cox, C. Barry & Moore, Peter D. (1993):Biogeography. An ecological and evolutionary approach (5th ed.). Blackwell Scientific Publications, Cambridge.ISBN0-632-02967-6
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