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Fossil elephantimorph proboscideans are very common in Miocene faunas of East Asia. However, their evolution and migration associated with ecological pressure have been studied little, especially in China. In the present article, analyses of the dynamics of the elephantimorph genera of northern and southern China were performed. The results indicate considerable depression of elephantimorph proboscidean diversity in northern China and continuous success of this group in the Yunnan region (southern China) during the late Miocene. Notably, all trilophodont elephantimorph proboscideans were extinct by the end of the middle Miocene in northern China and did not recover until the latest Miocene. However, trilophodont and tetralophodont elephantimorph proboscideans coexisted throughout the late Miocene in the Yunnan region. Therefore, we interpret the Yunnan region as a late Miocene refuge for proboscideans, especially trilophodonts, from severe aridity in northern China caused by uplift of the Tibetan Plateau and retreat of the Paratethys Sea. Further analysis of the dynamics of coexisting genera indicates that the components of elephantimorph proboscidean assemblages in northern China display patterns distinct from those of Yunnan/Southeast Asia and Siwalik. Therefore, ecological barriers between northern China and Siwalik and between northern China and Yunnan/Southeast Asia are hypothesized to have existed by as early as the middle Miocene. The latter barrier occasionally opened, e.g. at the boundary between the middle and late Miocene, and thus provided a pathway for the survival of trilophodont proboscideans escaping from ecological pressures in northern China.

We studied 344 samples from Well XK-1 in Xisha Islands, South China Sea, and identified 66 species of larger benthic foraminifera, providing critical evidence for biostratigraphy and palaeoenvironmental interpretation of the Miocene reef carbonate sequence. Three assemblages are recognized, namely, Spiroclypeus higginsi – Borelis pygmaeus Assemblage (Letter Stage Te5, Early Miocene, 1256.28–1180.15 m), Nephrolepidina – Miogypsina Assemblage (Tf, Middle Miocene, 1031.10–577.04 m), and Cycloclypeus – Heterostegina Assemblage (Tg, Late Miocene, 468.13–380.42 m). On the basis of the palaeoecological preference of the larger foraminifera, we interpret that the Miocene carbonate sequence was deposited mainly in a warm tropical shallow water environment, characterized by five stages of continuous long-term evolution: backreef lagoon to shelf in the Early Miocene, normal to frontal reef in the early Middle Miocene, backreef lagoon to shelf in the later Middle Miocene, normal to frontal reef in the early Late Miocene, and proximal forereef shelf in the later Late Miocene.

The rich fossiliferous locality of Rudabanya (Hungary) is dated to the Vallesian (late Miocene, MN 9). It contains several taxa of the order Carnivora. The aim of the present paper is to describe remains belonging to a new genus and species of Ursidae, Miomaci panonnicum. It is represented by upper and lower teeth which are compared to other Miocene ursids. Miomaci nov. gen. is most similar to Indarctos and is attributed to the tribe Indarctini within the sub-family of the Giant Panda, Ailuropodinae. Study of the dental micro-wear, despite the small sample size, shows that its diet was composed by tough food with shearing and less crushing mastication, indicating ecological similarities with the Giant Panda. Its habitat was probably a lakeshore with abundant herbaceous monocots.

Micropalaeontological studies of borehole cores 1AS-7D-AM and 1AS-8-AM, from Atalaia do Norte, Amazonas state, Brazil, support previous evidence for Miocene marine ingressions in Western Amazonia. Three marine incursion events are recorded: the first in the Early/early Middle Miocene (in both cores), the second in the late Middle/early Late Miocene (1AS-8-AM), and the third in the Late Miocene (1AS-7D-AM). The first event is characterized by exclusively mangrove taxa, and the last two present a mixture of marine, fresh, and brackish water taxa. However, at the end of the third event an increase of fluvial influence is demonstrated by the predominance of freshwater taxa. These marine incursions reached the study area through narrow and geographically limited connections, controlled by the tectonic setting, at a time between the Early/early Middle Miocene and late Middle/Late Miocene. Thereafter, fluvial conditions were reestablished before Pliocene times.

A number of publications have documented the effect of the Miocene transgression on several coasts of the world. However, this event is incompletely documented along the Brazilian margin, despite the existence of an impressive record of Miocene deposits exposed mostly as several coastal cliffs along more than 5000 km of distance. The transgressive nature of Miocene deposits, so far recognized only in a few localities of northeastern Brazil, needs to be amplified in order to better characterize the impact of the Miocene transgression in eastern South America. In this work, we provide facies analysis of early/middle Miocene strata exposed in the Paraiba Basin, northeastern Brazil, aiming reconstruct the depositional paleoenvironments and analyze their evolution within the context of relative sea-level fluctuations data. The results revealed deposits characterized by several features that were related to the action of tidal currents, such as alternating thicker/thinner forest packages, abundant reactivation surfaces, mud drapes and oppositely-dipping (herringbone) cross sets. These sedimentary structures were associated with an ichnological assemblage indicative of marine-influenced and brackish water, best represented by Ophiomorpha, Planolites-Palaeophycus-Thalassinoides and Thallassinoides-Planolites-Palaeophycus ichnofabrics. Sedimentation occurred in environments consisting of estuarine channel, estuarine central basin, tidal inlet/tidal channel, tidal delta/washover, tidal flat/shoal and foreshore, which were related to an estuarine setting, at least in part of a wave-dominated type. Analysis of facies stratal patterns led to suggest that the estuarine deposits of the Paraiba Basin reflect a rise in relative sea level probably during the transgressive and/or highstand stage of a depositional sequence formed directly overlying Cretaceous rocks. This rise can be correlated with the worldwide early/mid Miocene marine transgression. However, while the eustatic sea level remained rising through the middle Miocene, the estuarine sedimentation in the study area was cut off, being replaced by a regional unconformity marked by lateritic paleosols. Thus, a relative sea-level fall is recorded in the Paraiba Basin while the eustatic sea level remained rising through the middle Miocene, before its fall in the Tortonian. It follows that other factors, such as tectonics, is proposed to explain the mid-Miocene fall in sea level along the Paraiba coast, while the eustatic sea level was rising.

The East Asian monsoon is generally regarded to have initiated at the transition from the Late Oligocene to the Early Miocene. However, little is known about this process because of a lack of continuous strata across the boundary between the Late Oligocene and the Early Miocene in Asia. Based on previous drilling (core HZ-1) in the Miocene sediments in the southern Linxia Basin in NW China, we drilled a new 620 m core (HZ-2) into the Late Oligocene strata and obtained 206 m of continuous new core. The detailed paleomagnetism of the new core reveals eleven pairs of normal and reversed polarity zones that can be readily correlated with chrons 6Bn-9n of the geomagnetic polarity time scale (GPTS), define an age interval of 21.6–26.5 Ma and indicate continuity from the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene. The core is characterized by the remarkable occurrence of brownish-red paleosols of luvic cambisols (brown to luvic drab soils) above reddish-brown floodplain siltstones and mudstones, which suggest that the East Asian monsoon likely began by 26.5 Ma. In contrast to the siltstone and mudstone of the Late Oligocene strata, the Miocene strata begin with a thick fine sandstone bed, which marks sudden increases in erosion and loading that most likely reflect a response to tectonic uplift. The hematite content and redness index records of the core further demonstrate that the monsoonal climate in the Late Oligocene to Early Miocene in this area was mainly controlled by global temperature trends and events.

Here, a fragment of a mandible recently discovered in the Cerro Zamuro site (Castillo Formation, Lara State, northwestern Venezuela) is assigned to the giant gavialoid Gryposuchus. This specimen, recovered from putative brackish environments of the early Miocene (~18 Ma) age, is unequivocally the earliest record of the genus in South America. Gryposuchus, together with the other gryposuchine previously recognized from the Castillo Formation, Siquisiquesuchus venezuelensis, increases the early Miocene taxonomic diversity of the group in the northern Neotropics. This new information from the Castillo Formation supports the conclusion that early gryposuchine evolutionary stages were in coastal, shallow marine or brackish environments, while the presence of some genera, such as Gryposuchus, in middle to late Miocene freshwater environments, is secondary habitat colonization late in the evolution of the clade. Freshwater colonization is probably the result of the gradual adaptation of early marine-adapted gryposuchines to the extensive estuarine-like environments of northern South America lowlands associated with marine transgressions that systematically occurred during the middle Eocene to early Oligocene. This new record is evidence of the wide chronological distribution of Gryposuchus in northern South America, highlighting the importance of this area as the center of origin and radiation of this successful Miocene gavialoid.

The Miocene was an important period for the assembly of present-day avian faunas of the North Temperate Zone. Details of this process, however, remain largely unexplored due to the scarcity of diverse late Miocene avian localities throughout the Eurasian continent. Here, we present a survey of the osteological diversity of extant rails and, based on these results, assess the diversity of rails from the late Miocene (7.5–7.1 Ma) locality Morskaya-2 in the south of European Russia. We document three taxa, two of which are described as Crexica crexica gen. et sp. nov. and Miohypotaenidia tanaisensis gen. et sp. nov. These taxa show affinities with the modern species Crex crex and Hypotaenidia (Gallirallus) philippensis respectively and thus may represent the oldest records of the Crex and Hypotaenidia-Gallirallus lineages in the fossil record. The taxonomic composition of rails from Morskaya-2 locality considerably differs from that observed at the roughly coeval locality Polgardi in Hungary, which likely reflects palaeogeographic differences during the late Miocene in Europe. Although Central Europe was already inhabited by modern-type rails in the late Miocene, more ancestral groups were present in the East. Some other aspects of the evolution of the modern fauna of Rallidae are discussed.

The variations of lithostratigraphy, foraminifera, geochemical elements, and organic biomarkers in well XK1 from the Xisha (Paracel) Islands reveal the history of carbonate platform development since the early Miocene in the South China Sea. Our results indicate that reef growth was more active in the middle Miocene than in any earlier periods, decreased in the late Miocene, revitalized in the Pliocene, and active again in the Pleistocene interglacial periods. Unlike those limestone-rich intervals, the late Miocene succession in well XK1 is characterized by dolomitized limestones with a low deposition rate (30–60 m/Ma post-compaction). These late Miocene rocks also contain relative high MgO (~ 20%), more ∑ REE, abundant algae and some small sized foraminifera, but rare larger benthic foraminifera, very low land-sourced brGDGTs (0–0.5 ng/20 g), low BIT index (0.1–0.5), and low TEX86-derived sea temperature (~ 20–25 °C), indicating limited active reef growth in relative cooler mesophotic environments at > 30 m water depths. Similar dolomitized limestones of late Miocene age also occur in other carbonate platform areas including the Nansha (Spratly) Islands in the southern South China Sea. Together, these South China Sea records provide regional evidence of a recession in global carbonate platform development starting from the late Miocene. While carbonate platform reduction in other regions may have been triggered by global cooling and changing oceanic chemistry, accelerated basin subsidence coupled with monsoon cooling are considered as the main factors causing the reef decline in the late Miocene South China Sea.

Paucituberculatan marsupials, particularly members of the family Palaeothentidae, were important components of South American mammal communities during much of the Cenozoic. However, after the late early Miocene, palaeothentid remains are rare in the fossil record, and the group is last recorded at late middle Miocene sites in Colombia, Bolivia and possibly Argentina. Here, we describe new specimens of palaeothentids from one of these late middle Miocene sites, Quebrada Honda, Bolivia, which include: (1) the first described lower dentitions of Acdestis maddeni, which exhibit distinctive features such as a greatly elongated paracristid and a single-rooted m4; (2) the first described late middle Miocene palaeothentines, representing two new species of Palaeothentes, P. serratus sp. nov. and P. relictus sp. nov., distinguished from other species of Palaeothentes by the presence of an anterobasal cingulid and reduced anterior trigonid crest, among other features; and (3) remains of a third new species, Chimer...

The present publication reports new discoveries of Oligocene and early Miocene aplodontid rodents from the Taatsiin Gol area (Valley of Lakes) in Mongolia. The fossil aplodontids recovered in this area are mainly composed of dental remains, some fragmentary jaws plus one partially preserved skull. Aplodontid rodents have been found from the early Oligocene (local biozone A) to the early middle Miocene (local biozone D). Altogether, eight taxa belonging to five genera have been identified in the investigated deposits: Ninamys arboraptus, Ninamys kazimierzi, Promeniscomys cf. sinensis, Prosciurus? mongoliensis and Prosciurus? sp. nov. in the early Oligocene; N. arboraptus, Proansomys badamae sp. nov. and Ansomyinae indet. in the late Oligocene; and Ansomys sp.1 in the early Miocene. In addition, although outside of the topic of the present special issue, one additional taxon, Ansomys sp.2, is reported from the ?middle Miocene. The material of aplodontids is usually relatively scarce in Asian localities. For the first time, with a sample size of 81 specimens, the material from Central Mongolia (mainly from the Oligocene) now allows a more accurate description of the morphological and size variability and resolves some systematic problems. The study of these aplodontids reveals that they are more abundant and diverse in the early Oligocene and that the diversity decreases during the late Oligocene and Miocene. One hypothesis, to explain the opposite diversity trend observed previously for sciurids in the same region, is that both Sciuromorpha families might have competed for the same resources from the early Oligocene to the middle Miocene in Central Mongolia. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12549-016-0255-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The recent advances regarding the complex chronobiostratigraphy of Middle Miocene terrestrial deposits of southern Germany are reviewed. We propose new and revised correlations between the Swiss and South German faunas framework for ongoing research. We restrict our analysis to the cricetid and microtoid muroid rodents, especially the Megacricetodon and cricetodontine groups, because of their importance for this purpose. Faunal turnovers reflect global climate changes. Species level endemism is punctuated by several immigration events, and a possible westward spread of faunal associations is suggested at around 13.8 Ma and, at the end of the Middle Miocene, by introduction of Late Miocene lineages from the east. (C) 2016 Academie des sciences. Published by Elsevier SAS. All rights reserved.

Geological explorations of the basal beds of the Rio Yuca Formation (Tucupido region, Portuguesa State, western Venezuela) resulted in the recognition of a new vertebrate assemblage that includes eight taxa: the toxodont cf. Adinotherium , a Peltephilidae armadillo, the freshwaters fishes Platysilurus and Phractocephalus , the caiman Purussaurus , an indeterminate dolphin, turtles, and the previously recognized sloth Pseudoprepotherium venezuelanum . When compared with the higher latitudes faunas of Argentina and Chile, the presence of cf. Adinotherium and peltephilids in the Rio Yuca Formation is consistent, but not conclusive, with a Santacrucian to Frisian SALMA age. The associated fauna, as well recent apatite fission track analysis, indicates that the Rio Yuca assemblage is more likely younger in age, specifically Middle to Late Miocene. So far, the Miocene localities of the northern part of South America have provided a less prolific fossil record compared to the southern part of the continent (e.g., Santacrucian and Friasian faunas of Patagonia), but the present work documents the surprising occurrence of two taxa (Peltephilidae and Nesodontinae) common in southern high latitude faunas of South America, implying the persistence of the Santacrucian-Friasian genus Adinotherium in younger strata from northern South America, and that peltephilids were much more widespread during the Miocene than previously recognized. The presence of these common Patagonian taxa (Peltephilidae and Nesodontinae) in Rio Yuca also supports the hypothesis of prior researchers for the existence of biogeographical connections between the northern and southern portions of South America during the Late Oligocene or Early Miocene, which facilitated faunal interchange between the two regions. Finally, the biogeographical affinities of the freshwater fishes and the giant caiman ( Purussaurus ) indicate close relationships of the Tucupido region with the ancestral distribution of the Orinocoan–Amazonian drainage system.

The Latest Miocene succession of the Baccinello-Cinigiano Basin in southern Tuscany (Italy) recorded a faunal turnover documenting the extinction of an older, insular, endemic faunal complex characterised by the extinct ape Oreopithecus bambolii and the setting of a new, continental, European faunal complex including the colobine monkey Mesopithecus . A similar turnover pattern (Late Miocene ape/Latest Miocene Cercopithecidae) is generally observed in Late Miocene continental successions of Eurasia, from Spain to central Europe, Southwest Europe, the near East, and Southwest Asia. Abundant literature reports that the Late Miocene Eurasian hominoid primate distribution closely tracks the climatic/environmental changes occurring during the 12–9 Ma interval, until their extinction in western Europe. In the primate record, the dispersion of Cercopithecidae and the contraction of hominids is interpreted as an event depicting a pattern of “continentalisation” in the Old World. The sedimentary succession of the Baccinello-Cinigiano basin, one of the longest continuous vertebrate-bearing continental successions in the Neogene Italian record, contributes to the debate on this hypothesis. This paper provides an overview of the main characteristics of the sedimentary succession, the chronological constraints (biochronology, radiometric datings, magnetostratigraphy), and the palaeoenvironmental evolution as derived from palaeobiological approaches and from the study of stable carbon and oxygen isotope contents along the entire sedimentary succession. The 2 myr geological history of the Baccinello Cinigiano Basin, which documents the evolutionary history of Oreopithecus and associated faunas, does not have a direct relation with the event of the Messinian Salinity Crisis. The evolutionary history of Baccinello-Cinigiano Basin and its palaeontological record have been mainly driven by the regional tectonism and palaeogeographic changes that affected the northern Tyrrhenian regions in Late Miocene (Latest Tortonian–Messinian) times.

The fossil record of the Iberian insectivores forms a subset of those found in central Europe. Comparison of the late early to early late Miocene record of the two areas shows that, particularly during the late Early Miocene, central European taxa have transient occurrences in Spain. Most taxa appear earlier and survive longer in central Europe. A notable exception is the gymnure Galerix , which extirpates earlier in central Europe, except for a transient occurrence in Germany just prior to its extinction. The main period of insectivore migrations is the late middle Miocene, although some of the taxa that enter remain restricted to the coastal areas. Overall, the pattern of distribution in time and space is best explained by the preference of insectivores for humid environments, as were found during the early Miocene and re-appeared at the end of the middle Miocene.

Three closely allied shallow marine taxa, Neohornibrookella sorrentae (Chapman and Crespin), Neohornibrookella glyphica (Neil), and Neohornibrookella nepeani sp. nov. are recorded from latest early Miocene to late Pliocene strata in southeastern Australia. These taxa, together with Neohornibrookella quadranodosa (Holden) from the Miocene of Midway Island (Northwestern Hawaiian Islands), form a morphologically distinct group of relatively large species (the sorrentae-group) within the genus Neohornibrookella Jellinek. Latitudinal expansion of the subtropical and warm-temperate climatic belts together with the influence of warm western boundary surface currents associated with the North and South Pacific gyres, are likely to have played key roles in the Miocene dispersal of this species group. Species of the sorrentae-group first migrated south from equatorial west Pacific regions into southeastern Australia during the early Miocene, under the influence of the East Australian Current. During three time intervals (i) latest early Miocene, (ii) latest late Miocene and (iii) earliest late Pliocene, forceful pulses of the East Australian Current played a significant role in propelling the widespread distribution of thermophilic Neohornibrookella species across southeast Australian shallow marine realms. During intervening middle and late Miocene times, Neohornibrookella species are only sporadically present across the Bass Strait region of southeast Australia, indicating a weaker East Australian Current influence and the cooling influence of coastal upwelling. During the mid early Pliocene Neohornibrookella species disappeared from the western Bass Strait region, suggesting the complete exclusion of East Australian Current waters from this region. This was probably due to the counteracting influence of the eastward flowing Zeehan Current (extension of the Leeuwin Current) impinging on the western Bass Strait region. This mid early Pliocene palaeobiogeographical partition in Bass Strait, defined by the distribution of sorrentae-group species, is here termed the Bassian Gateway. The two species, N. sorrentae and N. glyphica, occur concurrently during the mid Miocene in southeast Australia, but are associated with different lithofacies. It is hypothesised that there is a heterochronic evolutionary relationship expressed in the ornament of these two species. The thaerocytherid genera Neohornibrookella Jellinek, Tenedocythere Sissingh and Bosasella Bonaduce are here included in the new ostracod subfamily Tenedocytherinae.

This work presents a taxonomic study and paleoecological reconstructions of the continental gastropod assemblages from two new Miocene localities in the German part of the North Alpine Foreland Basin, Bavaria. Riedensheim (next to the town of Rennertshofen) and Fasanerie (next to the town of Adelschlag). The fossil rich deposits belong to the Upper Freshwater Molasse (OSM), correlated to the regional biostratigraphic unit C+D (Burdigalian/Langhian;MN 5 in the European mammal Neogene zone). 17 gastropod species (almost exclusively pulmonates) were found in Adelschlag-Fasanerie and 35 species in Riedensheim. 13 species are shared by both assemblages. Of these, the following species have their distribution expanded in Germany: Azeca peneckei, Carychium (Carychium) galli, Vitrea ammoni and Urticicola perchtae;and possibly also Stagnicola cf. praebouiletti and Truncatellina cf. pantherae. Paleoecological reconstructions indicate a rich freshwater gastropod community in Riedensheim, with a well-vegetated area immediately surrounding the water body (which diminished in size with time), and a surrounding environment dominated by humid forest. The fauna from Adelschlag-Fasanerie, which was much impoverished in comparison, might represent flood plain and fluvial channel deposits. Finally, a comparison to the molluscan faunas of coeval and nearby localities (Adelschlag, Attenfeld, Sandelzhausen and Undorf) is provided.

he lowest part of the Monarch Mill Formation in the Middlegate basin, west-central Nevada, has yielded a middle Miocene (Barstovian Land Mammal Age) vertebrate assemblage, the Eastgate local fauna. Paleobotanical evidence from nearby, nearly contemporaneous fossil leaf assemblages indicates that the Middle Miocene vegetation in the area was mixed coniferous and hardwood forest and chaparral-sclerophyllous shrubland, and suggests that the area had been uplifted to 2700–2800 m paleoaltitude before dropping later to near its present elevation of 1600 m. Thus, the local fauna provides a rare glimpse at a medium- to high-altitude vertebrate community in the intermountain western interior of North America. The local fauna includes the remains of fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds, and 25 families of mammals. Carnivorans, the focus of this study, include six taxa (three of which are new) belonging to four families. Canidae are represented by the borophagine Tomarctus brevirostris and the canine Leptocyon sp. indet. The earliest record and second North American occurrence of the simocyonine ailurid Actiocyon is represented by A. parverratis sp. nov. Two new mustelids, Brevimalictis chikasha gen. et sp. nov. and Negodiaetictis rugatrulleum gen. et sp. nov., may represent Galictinae but are of uncertain subfamilial and tribal affinity. The fourth family is represented by the felid Pseudaelurus sp. indet. Tomarctus brevirostris is limited biochronologically to the Barstovian land mammal age and thus is consistent with the age indicated by other members of the Eastgate local fauna as well as by indirect tephrochronological dates previously associated with the Monarch Mill Formation. Actiocyon parverratis sp. nov. extends the temporal range of the genus Actiocyon from late Clarendonian back to the Barstovian. The Eastgate local fauna improves our understanding of mammalian successions and evolution, during and subsequent to the Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum (~14–17 Ma).

Although the rhinoceros remains have high biochronological significance, they are poorly known or scarcely documented in the uppermost Miocene deposits of Europe. Several specimens collected from the Upper Miocene (around 7.0 Ma, Turolian) deposits of Kávás (Pannonian Basin, Western Hungary), previously determined as Rhinoceros sp., are revised and described in this paper. The postcranial remains of these specimens belong to “Dihoplus” megarhinus (de Christol) on the basis of the morphological and morphometric characters of humerus, radii, metacarpal and metatarsal elements. An overview of rhinoceros remains from several uppermost Miocene localities and the revision of the rhinoceros material from the Pannonian Basin suggest that “D.” megarhinus spread during the latest Miocene from the Pannonian Basin towards Italy. The occurrences of this species in Western Hungary and Italy during the latest Miocene further imply that Rhinocerotini species were biogeographically segregated between Western, Southern and Central Europe.

From a numerical analysis of deep water Neogene and Quaternary Ostracoda from D.S.D.P. sites in the S. W. Pacific, it is shown that the Miocene to Quaternary interval saw a large scale invasion by bathyal stocks of the abyss. This invasion was progressive and cumulative and resulted in abyssal faunas being much more diverse in the Quaternary than they had been in the Miocene. This major palaeoecological shift also occasioned a concommitant decline in bathyal faunas over the same interval. The breakdown of bathyal and abyssal isolation resulted from the Miocene onwards, in a progressive increase in the number of species which were able, contemporaneously, to live at both bathyal and abyssal palaeodepths.The study shows deep water faunas of this age to be much more diverse than previous studies have indicated. Ninety-one genera with autochthonous deep water species are encountered in this study. These genera are listed with the numbers of species of each genus and their depth distribution for Miocene, Pliocene and Quaternary respectively. Overall species diversity declines from the Miocene to the Pliocene but steeply increases into the Quaternary. It is suggested that the Pliocene impoverishment may in part be an artefact, occasioned by abnormally high Miocene diversity.It is shown that the phenomena outlined above are, to varying degrees, illustrated by all of the 6 groups into which the fauna is divided. It is suggested that certain of these phenomena, such as the major downslope migration from the Miocene onwards, may be detectable in other parts of the world’s oceans.

This paper presents a few pieces of evidence on neotectonic structural evolution of the Polish segment of the Outer Carpathians. During the Late Neogene, structural development was largely controlled by normal faulting and block uplift. However, there are also indications of compressional stress setting, at least during the Pliocene and particularly within the medial and eastern parts of the belt. In the Quaternary, in turn, structural development has been mainly controlled by compressional stress arrangement, with \sigma _{1} orientated roughly perpendicular to the belt. The Pliocene-Quaternary tectonic mobility of the Polish Outer Carpathians has been relatively weak and mostly of thin-skinned character. Normal faults were formed on the margins of intramontane basins and in the western part of the belt. Rates of uplift of individual structures were variable and the amount of uplift was the greatest in the Late Pliocene and Early Quaternary times. Geomorphologically-detected zones of uplift are relatively narrow and arranged subparallel or under small angle in respect to the strike of principal thrusts and frontal parts of large slices. Such an arrangement is interpreted as resulting from the steepening of frontal thrusts due to horizontal compression within the overthrust flysch nappes. This hypothesis is confirmed by the results of recent break-out and GPS studies, as well as by focal solutions of some Outer Carpathian earthquakes.

We report herein an early middle Miocene (MN 6) assemblage of lissamphibians and squamate reptiles from the Pannonian region, Northern Hungary. The localities of Litke 1 and 2, of about 15.2–14.8 Ma, have produced at least 18 different taxa, originate mainly from terrestrial habitats. The faunal composition with a number of thermophilous taxa, including agamids, varanids and erycine boids, indicates moderately warm climatic conditions with relatively low level of mean annual precipitations. Common elements with those known from the late early Miocene to early/middle Miocene transition of Central and Western Paratethys suggest close biogeographic relationships between the western and eastern parts of the European continent. However, typical groups of the “Mid-Miocene Climatic Optimum” are unknown from Litke localities, suggesting altered palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental conditions for the eastern region of Central Paratethys at that time.

A very large alledged bustard, Otis hellenica (Boev et al. in Geol Balc 42:59–64, 2013), described from the Late Miocene of the continental Greece, is reinterpreted here as a member of Ergilornithinae (family Eogruidae), an extinct taxon of large cursorial gruiform birds convergently similar to ostriches. This is the western-most find of Ergilornithinae and the first documentation of this taxon in the continental Europe outside the territory of the former Soviet Union (Ukraine and Moldova). The Greek find is similar in size to coeval Urmiornis ukrainus from the northern Black Sea region, but is morphologically closer to the Early Miocene and even Paleogene Asian members of this group. This implies that the Balkan Peninsula was inhabited by a primitive lineage of Ergilornithinae in the Late Miocene, with less pronounced cursorial adaptations.

In the Late Miocene, grasslands proliferated, succulent plants diversified in the mid-latitudes, and the desert-like conditions appeared in the Sahara. Despite this major environmental change on land, the coeval deep-sea oxygen isotope record does not provide evidence for significant high latitude cooling or continental ice growth, making it difficult to relate widespread terrestrial environmental change to global climatic changes. A U 37 K ′ –derived sea surface temperature (SST) reconstruction spanning 13 to 6 Ma from uplifted hemipelagic sediments in Northern Italy provides the first continuous mid-latitude temperature record with which to compare the evolution of aridity and biotic events at similar latitudes in Northern Africa and Pakistan. Between 13 and 8.8 Ma, Mediterranean SST lay near the upper limit of the alkenone temperature proxy (∼28 °C), exceeding modern SST at the site by as much as 10 °C. Throughout the record, sapropel layers correspond to local SST maxima, suggesting that Late Miocene hydrological conditions in the Mediterranean responded to insolation forcing via mechanisms similar to those documented for the Plio-Pleistocene. Mediterranean SST cooled rapidly beginning at ∼8 Ma, with an episode of intense cooling to ∼19 °C between 7.2 Ma and 6.6 Ma, followed by a rebound to ∼25 °C preceding the Messinian Salinity Crisis at 5.9 Ma. These observations establish, for the first time, a direct relationship between increasing aridity in the Northern hemisphere mid-latitudes and significant cooling. Evidently, this cooling was not accompanied by significant growth in continental ice volume. The extreme warmth and subsequent cooling of the Mediterranean Sea are not well-represented in current Late Miocene climate models, which our results suggest underestimate regional warmth prior to the Late Miocene cooling. Evidence of secular cooling during the Late Miocene gives new support to the much-debated link between a possible decline in atmospheric CO2 levels and Late Miocene changes in vegetation on land.

The older part of the Upper Freshwater Molasse (OSM) in the Swiss and South German Molasse Basin records the extended warm period known as the Miocene Climate Optimum. However, dating and global correlation of fossils and palaeoclimatic data from OSM sediments remains challenging, because sections are often incomplete and biostratigraphic data sometimes ambiguous. Here we present the rare case of a fossiliferous OSM section that can be securely dated to the late Early Miocene and early Middle Miocene ( c . 16.1–15.7 Ma). Vertebrate microfossils have been recovered from three levels in superposition. Fish teeth document primary freshwater fishes (Cyprinidae, Channidae), but otoliths found in the middle level indicate dominance of euryhaline fishes (Cyprinodontiformes, Gobiiformes). The herpetofaunal assemblages largely consist of taxa that were widely distributed in Central Europe during the Miocene Climate Optimum and fragments of turtle eggshells assignable to the Oofamily Testudoolithidae Hirsch, 1996. The small-mammal fauna is dominated by the cricetid Megacricetodon bavaricus Fahlbusch, 1964. The fossil biota implies that the lowermost level (late Early Miocene, c . 16.1 Ma) represents a palaeo-soil that formed under humid conditions, while the levels above it (early Middle Miocene, c . 15.7–15.8 Ma) record a warm freshwater pond subject to evaporation (middle level), and mean annual temperature ≥ 17 °C in the vicinity of a river with an open hinterland (upper level). Our results, together with previous data, suggest that the palaeoclimate of the North Alpine Foreland Basin of Switzerland and Southwest Germany was humid during the late Early Miocene and earliest Middle Miocene, and that the Middle Miocene onset of seasonality and low mean annual precipitation occurred by c . 15.7–15.8 Ma. We conclude that global climate change and the 100-kyr orbital eccentricity minimum at 15.75 Ma may have triggered the decrease in humidity in the North Alpine Foreland Basin.

DOI:10.17014/ijog.2.2.101-110This study is focused on Middle to Late Miocene sediments. As depicted in the regional geology of Indonesia, the area of study is part of Northeast Java Basin. There are three phases of tectonism in the basin: extensional tectonics at Eocene-Oligocene time, compressional tectonics at Middle Miocene, and compressional tectonics at Miocene-Pliocene time. The result of the study shows three sequences were developing during Middle to Late Miocene, those are: (1) Middle Miocene sequence-1 (MM-1 sequence) consisting of a Lowstand Tract System deposition in Middle Miocene-1 (LST MM-1), Transgressive System Tract deposition in Middle Miocene-1 (TST MM-1), and Highstand System Tract deposition in Middle Miocene-1 (HST MT-2); (2) Middle Miocene sequence-2 (MT-2 sequence), comprising Transgressive System Tract Middle Miocene-1 (TST MM-2), and Highstand System Tract deposition in Middle Miocene-1 (HST MM-2); (3) Late Miocene sequence-1 (LM-1 sequence), composed of a Lowstand Tract System deposition in Late Miocene -1 (LST LM-1) and a Transgressive System Tract deposition in Late Miocene-1 (TST LM-1).

With continued encroachment of the Pacific plate at the edge of North America, extensional stress was brought to the heart of the Cordillera and areas of the crust that had previously been compressed and vertically thickened began to be thinned and pulled apart (Fig. 11.1; Table 11.1). As some segments of the North American plate were pulled apart, Salinia continued its northwest march as well as other parts of southern California. For example, the future San Gabriel Mountains were once located much farther south in the Early Miocene, near San Diego and northern Baja California (Fig. 11.2). As the crust pulled apart this block rotated nearly 180° in a clockwise motion as it moved northwest. The San Gabriel’s remain among planet Earth’s fastest growing mountain ranges as the rocks are shoved to the south along great thrust faults as the block is shoved up against the San Andreas Fault to the north (Fig. 9.3).

Remarkable palaeoclimatic global changes have been recorded worldwide during the middle Miocene. The Miocene Climatic Optimum (~ 16.3 to ~ 15 Ma), one of the warmest phases since the Eocene, was followed by the stepwise cooling trend of the Middle Miocene Climate Transition (~ 15 to ~ 13.7 Ma). The entry into an Earth “Ice-house” climate state took place at the end of the latter (~ 13.76 Ma) marked by one of the major cooling steps in middle Miocene climate recorded at a global scale (Mi3b event). The Madrid Basin, which is part of one of the main Cenozoic basins of the Iberian Peninsula, contains a well-represented small-mammal record from the lower middle Miocene to the upper middle Miocene (middle and upper Aragonian, ~ 15.9 to 12.8 Ma), being an appropriate region to check how these climatic phases influenced the distribution of the mammalian faunas on the center of the Iberian Peninsula. Values of species richness, equitability and heterogeneity of rodents have been calculated for 25 localities of the Madrid Basin and compared to detailed climate isotope records from the marine realm (ODP Site 1146 from the South China Sea and the Mediterranean record of the Ras Il Pellegrin section on the Maltese Islands) and with palaeoprecipitation curves for southwest Europe (Calatayud-Montalbán Basin). The results show that the rodent community during the middle and upper Aragonian in the Madrid Basin was subject to the changing climate conditions imposed in the course of the middle Miocene. The palaeoecological curves witness periods of disturbance of the community during changing climate conditions (marked by important drops in equitability and, in some cases, gradual decreases in heterogeneity and species richness), followed by periods showing a recovery of the community and adaptation to the new climate circumstances (represented by more evenly distributed and diverse assemblages). The effects of the Miocene Climate Optimum and of three Mi-events (Mi2b, Mi3a and Mi3b) have been related to changes in the small-mammal community. Between ~ 15.8 and 15.3 Ma, the likely extreme environment (high temperature and low precipitation) of part of the Miocene Climate Optimum may have imposed severe constraints on the fauna, resulting in a community with low values of equitability, heterogeneity and a decreasing number of species. The transition of the Miocene Climate Optimum to the Middle Miocene Climate Transition, reflected by the Mi2b event, has also procured a destabilization of the rodent assemblages, as an important drop in equitability is recorded between ~ 15 and 14.6 Ma. In this interval, the drop in temperature and increase in rainfall derived from the Middle Miocene Climate Transition promote the southwards migration of northern invaders, leading to an increase in species richness in the Madrid Basin. Starting around 14.4 Ma, the onset of a progressive drop in the rodent equitability and heterogeneity, which also coincides with a major stratigraphic discordance in the basin, is related to the first cooling step of the Middle Miocene Climate Transition (Mi3a event). Finally, the major cooling step in middle Miocene climate recorded at a global scale (Mi3b event) is poorly reflected in the palaeoecological curves. However, the taxonomical study of the rodent faunas of that interval (biozone E) has shown turnover rates and morphometric changes that indicate that this period represents one of the most variable in assemblage composition within the Aragonian. Although the Mi3b event has been correlated for a long time to the substitution of the early-middle Aragonian fauna by a late Aragonian community (E–F boundary), the study of the rodent assemblages of the Madrid Basin may point out that small changes in the small-mammal community started before (within biozone E)., This work was supported by the Spanish MICINN projects CGL-2008-04200/BTE and CGL2011-28877.

Two distinct and short-lived flooding events of shallow marine waters covered western Amazonia during the Miocene., There is a considerable controversy about whether western Amazonia was ever covered by marine waters during the Miocene [23 to 5 Ma (million years ago)]. We investigated the possible occurrence of Miocene marine incursions in the Llanos and Amazonas/Solimões basins, using sedimentological and palynological data from two sediment cores taken in eastern Colombia and northwestern Brazil together with seismic information. We observed two distinct marine intervals in the Llanos Basin, an early Miocene that lasted ~0.9 My (million years) (18.1 to 17.2 Ma) and a middle Miocene that lasted ~3.7 My (16.1 to 12.4 Ma). These two marine intervals are also seen in Amazonas/Solimões Basin (northwestern Amazonia) but were much shorter in duration, ~0.2 My (18.0 to 17.8 Ma) and ~0.4 My (14.1 to 13.7 Ma), respectively. Our results indicate that shallow marine waters covered the region at least twice during the Miocene, but the events were short-lived, rather than a continuous full-marine occupancy of Amazonian landscape over millions of years.

The Interatheriinae (Notoungulata, Interatheriidae) from the Collón Curá Formation (Colloncuran South American Land Mammal Age, SALMA) are revised here, based on old and new collections from western Neuquén, Río Negro, and Chubut provinces where this geologic unit crops out. After a detailed study of the holotype of Icochilus endiadys, we conclude that its cranial and dental morphology are diagnostic of the genus Protypotherium, and as a result we include I. endiadys in this genus (P. endiadys comb. nov.). Deciduous dentition and postcranial remains are also ascribed to P. endiadys, which allows us to determine its pattern of dental eruption and describe part of its limbs, expanding its diagnosis. In addition, we describe a new species of Protypotherium, P. colloncurensis sp. nov., which differs from P. endiadys in having larger size, a more robust mandible, strongly imbricate upper molars, a well-developed parastyle on P1, a subcircular and non-overlapping p1, a much reduced p2, and a smaller talonid on p3?4. Based on the revision, we identified only one genus of Interatheriinae in the Collón Curá Formation (i.e., Protypotherium). Protypotherium endiadys extends its distribution from Neuquén to Chubut provinces, including Río Negro; the new species, in turn, was only recognized in Río Negro Province, appearing together with P. endiadys in Estancia El Criado, Comallo, and Chico River localities. Discriminant and cladistic analyses were performed including P. endiadys, the new taxon, and other middle Miocene interatheres, and yielded strong support for our systematic conclusions. A thorough phylogenetic analysis of Protypotherium is provided for the first time. Based on this analysis, Protypotherium and Miocochilius form a monophyletic group supported by four synapomorphies., Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo

Outcrops of the Yecua Formation (late Miocene) are exposed for approximately 230 m along the La Angostura section of the Piraí River (50 km southwest of Santa Cruz de la Sierra). These reveal massive (argillic palaeosols) and laminated (quiet-water lacustrine and marsh settings) mudstones interbedded with thin sandstones containing microfossils, molluscs and vertebrate remains. Significantly, the succession hosts a giant crocodylian, Mourasuchus (Alligatoridae, Caimaninae), which is represented by both skull and postcranial fragments found in association with freshwater turtles and fishes. Mourasuchus was distributed widely from the middle Miocene of Colombia to upper Miocene of Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina, suggesting connections between major fluvial systems and an active mechanism for dispersal of South American freshwater vertebrates during the Miocene. 沿Pirai 河的La Angostura剖面Yecua组（晚中新世）的露头出露大约230米（Santa Cruz de la Sierra西南50公里）。这些露头显现出大量的（泥质古土壤）和层压的（静水湖泊和沼泽环境）泥岩，与薄砂层互层，后者含微化石、软体动物和脊椎动物的遗迹。重要的是，这些地层含有一个大型鳄鱼Mourasuchus（短吻鳄科，Caimaninae），其代表物是与淡水龟和淡水鱼共存的头骨和颅后碎片。 Mourasuchus广泛分布于哥伦比亚的中新世中期到委内瑞拉、巴西和阿根廷的上新世，说明中新世时主要河流系统的连通，及南美淡水脊椎动物的扩散机制。 Fil: Tineo, David. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas; Argentina Fil: Bona, Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleontología Vertebrados; Argentina Fil: Pérez, Leandro Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleozoología Invertebrados; Argentina Fil: Vergani, Gustavo Dardo. Pluspetrol S.A. Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: González Rigas, Gloria. Pluspetrol S.A. Buenos Aires; Argentina Fil: Poire, Daniel Gustavo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Investigaciones Geológicas; Argentina Fil: Brandoni, Zulma Nelida. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. División Paleontología Vertebrados; Argentina Fil: Legarreta, Pablo. Pluspetrol S.A. Buenos Aires; Argentina

We investigated the palynology of sediment cores from Site M0027 of IODP (Integrated Ocean Drilling Program) Expedition 313 on the New Jersey shallow shelf to examine vegetation and climate dynamics on the east coast of North America between 33 and 13 million years ago and to assess the impact of over-regional climate events on the region. Palynological results are complemented with pollen-based quantitative climate reconstructions. Our results indicate that the hinterland vegetation of the New Jersey shelf was characterized by oak–hickory forests in the lowlands and conifer-dominated vegetation in the highlands from the early Oligocene to the middle Miocene. The Oligocene witnessed several expansions of conifer forest, probably related to cooling events. The pollen-based climate data imply an increase in annual temperatures from ∼11.5 °C to more than 16 °C during the Oligocene. The Mi-1 cooling event at the onset of the Miocene is reflected by an expansion of conifers and mean annual temperature decrease of ∼4 °C, from ∼16 °C to ∼12 °C around 23 million years before present. Relatively low annual temperatures are also recorded for several samples during an interval around ∼20 million years before present, which may reflect the Mi-1a and the Mi-1aa cooling events. Generally, the Miocene ecosystem and climate conditions were very similar to those of the Oligocene. Miocene grasslands, as known from other areas in the USA during that time period, are not evident for the hinterland of the New Jersey shelf, possibly reflecting moisture from the proto-Gulf Stream. The palaeovegetation data reveal stable conditions during the mid-Miocene climatic optimum at ∼15 million years before present, with only a minor increase in deciduous–evergreen mixed forest taxa and a decrease in swamp forest taxa. Pollen-based annual temperature reconstructions show average annual temperatures of ∼14 °C during the mid-Miocene climatic optimum, ∼2 °C higher than today, but ∼1.5 °C lower than preceding and following phases of the Miocene. We conclude that vegetation and regional climate in the hinterland of the New Jersey shelf did not react as sensitively to Oligocene and Miocene climate changes as other regions in North America or Europe due to the moderating effects of the North Atlantic. An additional explanation for the relatively low regional temperatures reconstructed for the mid-Miocene climatic optimum could be an uplift of the Appalachian Mountains during the Miocene, which would also have influenced the catchment area of our pollen record.

A palynological investigation of 15 ditch cutting samples from Borehole 8, located off the Angolan coast, westcentral Africa, revealed Late Oligocene (Chattian) to latest Middle to earliest Early Miocene (Serravallian/earliest Tortonian?) marine dinoflagellate cysts, freshwater colonial algae and terrestrial palynomorphs. Various early Miocene pollen characterising the Verrutricolporites rotundiporus Zone of Legoux (1978) confirm the location of the Oligocene—Miocene boundary in relation to a new short-ranging early Miocene dinoflagellate cyst taxon Cristadinium headii sp. nov. The Oligocene to Miocene dinoflagellate cyst assemblages reflect three periods, A–C, with high palaeoproductivity, corresponding to periods in the latest Oligocene (late Chattian), Early Miocene (late Aquitanian—early Burdigalian?) and the base of the Middle Miocene (Langhian). Early to middle Miocene acme intervals of Cleistosphaeridium placacanthum and Cribroperidinium tenuitabulatum are considered to reflect two regional oceanographic events due to intense upwelling along the West African coast. A distinct Early Miocene episode of brackish-water outflow from the nearby Angolan mainland is also reflected by the palynological assemblages, perhaps linked to the global Mi-1 event. Changes in relative abundance of grass pollen indicate a gradual change towards a drier and perhaps also warmer Burdigalian—Langhian climate during which the Angolan savanna developed, followed by cooler and perhaps more humid conditions following the Miocene Climatic Optimum.

A new dromomerycine palaeomerycid artiodactyl, Surameryx acrensis new genus new species, from upper Miocene deposits of the Amazon Basin documents the first and only known occurrence of this Northern Hemisphere group in South America. Osteological characters place the new taxon among the earliest known dromomerycine artiodactyls, most similar to Barbouromeryx trigonocorneus, which lived in North America during the early to middle Miocene, 20–16 Ma. Although it has long been assumed that the Great American Biotic Interchange (GABI) began with the closure of the Isthmus of Panama in the late Pliocene, or ca. 3.0–2.5 Ma, the presence of this North American immigrant in Amazonia is further evidence that terrestrial connections between North America and South America through Panama existed as early as the early late Miocene, or ca. 9.5 Ma. This early interchange date was previously indicated by approximately coeval specimens of proboscideans, peccaries, and tapirs in South America and ground sloths in North America. Although palaeomerycids apparently never flourished in South America, proboscideans thrived there until the end of the Pleistocene, and peccaries and tapirs diversified and still live there today.

The warm climate of the Miocene peaked during the middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO; 17–14.5 Ma). After the MMCO, global climate went through several short-lived cooling events: the Mi-events (Miocene isotope events). One of the more severe Mi-events is Mi-3, associated with East Antarctic Ice Sheet growth, species turnover in terrestrial and marine realms, Northern Hemisphere and mid-latitude aridification and Antarctic sea-surface temperature cooling. CO2 reconstructions, as well as the aforementioned observations, suggest that a drawdown of CO2 and/or changes in ocean circulation led to the changes surrounding Mi-3. A combination of eccentricity and obliquity amplitude modulation minima, favourable conditions for ice growth, has also been suggested as a possible triggering mechanism. However, an exact cause cannot be pinpointed yet. High-resolution records necessary to investigate the exact order of events surrounding Mi-3 and the possible role of orbital forcing, a very likely trigger, are sparse.Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Leg 307 recovered such a high resolution record from the middle Miocene at the Porcupine Basin (offshore south-western Ireland). Well-preserved palynomorphs, mainly organic-walled dinoflagellate cysts, acritarchs and some pollen were extracted from Site U1318, and relative and absolute abundance changes were determined. Using dinocysts and calcareous nannoplankton the age model for the record was improved. Based on the palynology, the Mi-3a, Mi-3b and Mi-4 events were successfully identified and concomitant palaeoenvironmental change was observed. These events, although different in magnitude, can be associated with a decrease in sea-surface temperature, as well as with a likely fall in sea-level. Furthermore, possible palaeoenvironmental preferences of 5 dinocyst taxa were determined, based on observations from the record and multivariate statistics.

Monsoonal systems have gained dominance in East Eurasia since the latest Oligocene, evidenced by eolian deposits in North China. Consequently, the central Eurasia became a middle-latitude inland arid area, and in the Late Miocene finally formed a pattern like that of modern day. But the timing, extent, and forcing of the aridification remain poorly understood. Here we gathered palynological sequences from the continental interior and divide them into four chronological parts to reconstruct the development of the central Eurasian aridity during the Miocene. The oldest known aridification record shows the rise of xerophytes observed in the fluviolacustrine Jingou River section at the south margin of the Junggar Basin, suggesting a latest Oligocene drying. Compared with the well-dated records from the inland, the available palynological records reveal two stepwise expansions of arid conditions from the Junggar Basin to its adjacent regions, which occurred in late Middle Miocene and Late Miocene, respectively. The two major expansions are roughly synchronous with the development of North American steppe and call for a global forcing explanation. We discuss various possible explanations for the inland aridity expansions, including regional uplift, land-sea redistribution, global changes in CO2 concentration, and conclude that none of these are fully consistent with the available data. The most likely explanation for the northern mid-latitude drying is global cooling during the Miocene. For eastern Eurasia, cooling weakens monsoon circulation, and consequently drying conditions expand following retreat of the monsoonal rain belt, while in the west, cooling reduces water vapor pressure and therefore reduces the moisture mass transported into the continental interior.

Miocene carbonate platforms cover a large part of the Central Vietnamese South China Sea margin. Early carbonate deposition took place on two regional platforms separated by a narrow depression developed along the trace of the East Vietnam Boundary Fault Zone. West of the East Vietnam Boundary Fault Zone, the Tuy Hoa Carbonate Platform fringes the continental margin between Da Nang and Nha Trang. Here, platform growth initiated during the Early Miocene and continued until Middle Miocene time when regional uplift led to subaerial exposure, termination of platform growth and karstification. East of the fault zone, the Triton Carbonate Platform was also initiated during the Early Miocene. Carbonate growth thrived during Early and part of Middle Miocene time and a thick, clean Lower and Middle Miocene carbonate succession cover the Triton Horst and the Qui Nhon Ridge. During the Middle Miocene, partial drowning resulted in the split-up of the Triton Carbonate Platform. Repeated partial drowning events throughout the Middle and Late Miocene resulted in westwards retreat of platform growth and eventual platform drowning and termination of carbonate deposition. Modern carbonate growth continues on isolated platforms hosting the Paracel Islands farther seawards. The onset of widespread carbonate deposition largely reflects the Early Miocene transgression of the area linked with early post-rift subsidence and the opening of the South China Sea. The mid-Neogene shift in carbonate deposition is interpreted as a consequence of regional uplift and denudation of central and south Indochina starting during Middle Miocene time when the Tuy Hoa Carbonate Platform became subaerially exposed. Stressed carbonate growth conditions on the Triton Carbonate Platform probably resulted from increased inorganic nutrient input derived from the uplifted mainland, possibly enhanced by deteriorated climatic conditions and rapid sea-level fluctuations promoting platform drowning.

High amplitude climate fluctuations have been inferred from marine isotope data in the early Neogene, but few well documented terrestrial records exist from this era to gauge the effects of these high latitude events on continental climates and ecosystems. The extensive, three-dimensional exposures of Miocene fluvial and fluvio-lacustrine sediments in the Rondeberg clay pit near Cape Town provide a unique window on this era. Palaeomagnetic data suggests that the deposits accumulated over a period of Ilex -type, Euphorb -type, Rhamnaceae) and mesothermic ( Podocarpus -type) palynofloras suggests a humid subtropical/tropical climate. However, abundant charcoal, charred in situ tree stumps, overall poor preservation of organics, evidence for upward-drying lacustrine successions and an appreciable fynbos presence, point to cyclical periods of drought. We suggest that these climate fluctuations may have been influenced by the orbital pacing seen in the marine isotope record of the earlier Miocene, pointing to a high latitude link with mid-latitude terrestrial climate patterns. Earlier studies of pollen spectra from the nearby, slightly older Noordhoek deposits show cyclical alternations from tropical to cooler climates and more recent biogeochemical work has shown dramatic coincident fluctuations in depositional temperature. These vegetation changes were previously correlated with major global events embracing the entire Neogene from the Oligo–Miocene (late Oligocene to early Miocene) to the Pliocene. We offer a different interpretation, suggesting that the deposits represent a much shorter time interval in the earlier Miocene and that these climate fluctuations may have been influenced by orbital forcing evinced in the marine isotope record. Along the northern west coast, the Arrisdrift vertebrate fossil assemblage in Early–Middle Miocene terrace deposits of the Orange River indicate a tropical climate but possibly less humid than in the south, with more open vegetation patterns. The presence of pedogenic calcretes and gypcretes in the deposits suggests periodic extremes of aridity not seen in south; the current pronounced north-aridity gradient from humid temperate to hyper-arid may have had its inception in the earlier Miocene.

Investigations into the most plausible causes which triggered the Late Miocene global expansion of C4 grasslands have reached no consensus and are still being debated. The global decline in CO2 levels in the Late Miocene has been thought to be the most common driver. Although C4 grassland expansion was largely confined to the Late Miocene, their first appearance varied significantly in different parts of the Old and New world and therefore emphasizes role of local and/or regional factors may or may not be in combination with one or more global factors. The dynamic Himalayan orogen constitutes a significant global tectonic event that is believed to have affected global climate. Hence, a study of the Himalayan foreland basin sediments could help in gleaning out possible causes behind this major paleoecologic event, which could perhaps be directly or indirectly related. Stable carbon isotope analyses of a total of 141 pedogenic carbonates in the Mio-Pleistocene Siwalik paleosols of the Ramnagar sub-basin are coherent, providing a better insight into paleovegetational changes across the sub-basin on temporal and spatial scales. Furthermore, paleovegetational history during Oligocene is reconstructed from Dagshai paleosols exposed in the Subathu sub-basin. The isotopic results show dominance of C3 vegetation pre-7 Ma and dominance of C4 vegetation post-5 Ma. Percentage abundance of C4 vegetation was less than 20 % pre-7 Ma but increased to more than 40 % post-5 Ma, reaching up to 100 % in the youngest analyzed sediments. There is exclusive dominance of C3 vegetation during Oligocene. These results conform to the pattern of change in vegetation documented in other parts of the Himalayan belt. The global expansion of C4 grasslands largely during Late Miocene have long been linked with then climate changes, particularly brought by declining atmospheric CO2 level, large-scale fires, intensification of monsoon, seasonality, and aridity as demonstrated by various researchers. These major hypotheses explaining expansion of C4 grasslands during Late Miocene are not very convincing due to significant shortcomings associated with them, for example, expansion of C4 grasslands in non-monsoonal regions put serious constraints on the monsoonal intensification hypothesis. Likewise, aridity as being the primary driver of C4 grassland expansion seems hard to support since there is no substantial evidence that could suggest global onset of arid conditions at about same geologic time, and some most arid periods, like the Triassic, show no evidence of C4 plants. We suggest that the initial lowering of CO2 below 450 ppmV created an environment for the beginning of C4 vegetation, but the persistence of this threshold value for a considerable time during Late Miocene appears to be the probable cause of the Late Miocene global expansion of C4 grasslands irrespective of their time of first appearance. It has been deduced through the correlation of Himalayan tectonic events with atmospheric CO2 levels and paleovegetational changes since Upper Miocene times that it was indeed the Late Miocene continuous, intense tectonic instability of the Himalayas that significantly decreased atmospheric CO2 levels and which perhaps played a key role in changing the nature of photosynthetic pathways.

The late Oligocene represents a comparatively cool phase followed by a warming event, the so-called Late Oligocene Warming that predates the Mi-1 glacial event at the Oligocene–Miocene transition. There is evidence that these climate events were linked to level changes in atmospheric CO2. In this study, atmospheric CO2 from the late Oligocene to the early Miocene is reconstructed by a terrestrial proxy, stomatal parameters of angiosperm leaves. Fossil leaves of six plant species were considered: Laurophyllum pseudoprinceps, L. acutimontanum (both Lauraceae), Platanus neptuni (Platanaceae), Eotrigonobalanus furcinervis, Quercus rhenana and Q. praerhenana (all Fagaceae). The plant material originates from various sites in Germany (late Oligocene to the early Miocene) and Austria (early Miocene). A mechanistic-theoretical approach based on stomatal data, photosynthesis and gas exchange control was used. Since this approach also requires climate data as input parameters for calculating assimilation and transpiration rates, palaeoclimate of these sites were also derived in detail. Considerable differences were found between results obtained by the two Lauraceae taxa and all other taxa, with the Lauraceae indicating a high CO2 level. If Lauraceae are included, a CO2 level of about 700 ppm for the late and latest Oligocene is obtained and about 500 ppm for the early Miocene. All non-Lauraceae taxa belonging to different families indicate a consistently lower level of CO2 of about 400 ppm for all considered sites and time slices. A value of 400 ppm is also consistent with other proxy data that are available for that time period. A steady level of 400 ppm would indicate a decoupling of CO2 and cooling/warming events from the late Oligocene to the early Miocene. More data provided by different proxies are desirable to unravel the interactions between atmosphere and climate for the late Oligocene and the early Miocene.

International audience; The upper Miocene sites of Hadjidimovo and Kalimantsi in South-Western Bulgaria have yielded a few fossils of the ailurid Simocyon Wagner, 1858, a skull and associated mandible of Promeles Zittel, 1890 (a relatively well-known member of the Mustelidae), and several skulls of Promephitis Gaudry, 1861, an Eurasian member of the Mephitidae, a family represented today by three American and one South-Asian genera, to which were also ascribed Palaeomephitis Jäger, 1839, Miomephitis Dehm, 1950, and Proputorius Filhol, 1890, from the Middle Miocene of Europe, as well as several American Clarendonian to Hemphillian genera. We show that the mephitid status of Palaeomephitis, Miomephitis, and Proputorius is doubtful, and that the late Miocene Promephitis is at a lower grade of encephalization than modern Mephitidae and could be the sister taxon of Pleistocene and modern forms, which can be called Mephitinae. Within this subfamily, the American Pleistocene and modern taxa form the sister group of the Asian Mydaus Cuvier, 1821, which displays numerous autapomorphies. A major, previously unnoticed characteristic of the Mephitinae and Promephitis is that their P4 lingual cusp is a hypocone, unlike that of the Clarendonian American forms, in which it is a protocone. If the latter taxa really belong to the Mephitidae, they must have split early in its history.

Brown coal and overlying sand strata from the Łukowa-4 borehole, located in the northeastern sector of the Carpathian Foredeep in Poland, were studied for palynology. These strata are underlain by Upper Eocene sands, and covered by Middle Miocene rocks. Coal beds yielded infrequent sporomorphs and freshwater algae Botryococcus. The presence of the latter indicates that these deposits accumulated in a freshwater environment whereas sporomorph assemblages point to the presence of mixed forests with a significant portion of thermophilous taxa. Age of the coal beds has been established based both on the presence of species that appear for the last time in the Early Oligocene, and on the similarity with sporomorph spectra from the Lower Oligocene of the Polish Lowlands. Overlying sands yielded marine dinoflagellate cysts, which point to a marine sedimentary setting, and frequent sporomorphs. The latter indicate the presence of mixed mesophytic forests, bush swamps, swamp forests, and riparian forests in the vicinity of lacustrine environments. Stratigraphic analysis of dinoflagellate cyst and sporomorph assemblages suggests that the sands accumulated in early stages of Miocene transgression in the Carpathian Foredeep in the latest Early–early Middle Miocene. Our climatic interpretation of the sporomorph spectra suggests that the climate during deposition of the strata was relatively warm, although less frequent thermophilous taxa recorded in the Miocene sands suggest a slightly cooler climate than that deducted from the spectra yielded by the underlying Lower Oligocene coal beds. Correlation of Lower Oligocene coal beds with neighbouring coeval marine sands suggests diverse morphological conditions in the Carpathian foreland at that time, partly covered by a sea, and partly emerged. A similar, morphologically diverse basement in the Carpathian foreland favoured accumulation of Lower Miocene phytogenic deposits. A similar stratigraphic position of both Lower Oligocene and Lower Miocene coal beds in the Carpathian Foredeep may result in a false correlation of these strata devoid of fossils, which are commonly regarded as Miocene.

Global and regional environmental changes have influenced the evolutionary processes of hominoid primates, particularly during the Miocene. Recently, a new Lufengpithecus cf. lufengensis hominoid fossil with a late Miocene age of ~6.2 Ma was discovered in the Shuitangba (STB) section of the Zhaotong Basin in Yunnan on the southeast margin of the Tibetan Plateau. To understand the relationship between paleoclimate and hominoid evolution, we have studied sedimentary, clay mineralogy and geochemical proxies for the late Miocene STB section (~16 m thick; ca. 6.7–6.0 Ma). Our results show that Lufengpithecus cf. lufengensis lived in a mildly warm and humid climate in a lacustrine or swamp environment. Comparing mid to late Miocene records from hominoid sites in Yunnan, Siwalik in Pakistan and tropical Africa we find that ecological shifts from forest to grassland in Siwalik are much later than in tropical Africa, consistent with the disappearance of hominoid fossils. However, no significant vegetation changes are found in Yunnan during the late Miocene, which we suggest is the result of uplift of the Tibetan plateau combined with the Asian monsoon geographically and climatically isolating these regions. The resultant warm and humid conditions in southeastern China offered an important refuge for Miocene hominoids.