#miocene — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #miocene, aggregated by home.social.
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New paper out!
Years ago, when Jesus Reolid and I worked on the formation of the Beer Sheva canyon, we noticed the rocks there were full of trace fossils. Now, we finally get to tell everyone their story.Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018226005791
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We got a new paper out!
The Late Miocene Mediterranean had some stark gradients from east to west. But did they have any effect on the biology? The ecology? Reefs?
We show it did!Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018226004864
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Late Miocene Euphrates River Drained Into A Partially Desiccated Eastern Mediterranean
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https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-026-01962-x <-- shared paper
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[the paleogeographic reconstruction is outstanding, including the strength and information conveyed so well in that figure, kudos!]
H/T @lina Jakaitė-Darkšė
“Although the Euphrates River - stretching ~3,000 km across Western Asia - has shaped the region’s geology for millions of years, the timing of its origin and the evolution of its course remain enigmatic. So far, two contrasting hypotheses have been proposed to explain the fluvial system’s Late Neogene path: termination in Anatolia at a palaeo-lake or the Mediterranean, or a southeastward continuation to Arabia. Here [they] use seismic-reflection and topographic data to show that two previously identified sedimentary accumulations - deposited during the terminal phase of the Late Miocene Messinian salinity crisis - resulted from dual riverine systems that drained into a partially desiccated eastern Mediterranean before avulsing toward the Persian Gulf and converging to form the modern Euphrates River. From probabilistic sediment-budget modelling, [they] show that although the latest Messinian drainage basins were an order of magnitude smaller than their present-day extents, the total palaeo-discharge exceeded that of the modern Tigris, Euphrates and Nile rivers combined, indicating intense palaeo-precipitation and high palaeo-relief. These results suggest that plate-margin deformation both controlled the fluvial avulsions that diverted the Euphrates River from the Anatolian–Eurasian Plate to the Arabian Plate, and established the conditions necessary for the development of the alluvial Fertile Crescent…”
#water #hydrology #hydrography #paleogeography #Euphrates #river #Miocene #reconstruction #spatialreconstruction #geology #change #erosion #MiddleEast #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #Neogene #Anatolia #paleolake #Mediterranean #Arabia #Messinian #remotesensing #model #modeling #topography #hydrogeomorphology #geomorphology #PersianGulf #sediment #paleodischarge #volume #Tigris #elevation #platetectonics #structuralgeology #platemargin #fluvial #avulsion #FertileCrescent -
New Species of Ancient Bear-Dog Identified in Spain
Paleontologists have identified a previously unknown species of amphicyonid — the extinct family of carnivorous mammals popularly known…
#NewsBeep #News #US #USA #UnitedStates #UnitedStatesOfAmerica #Wildlife #Amphicyonidae #asia #barcelona #Bear-dog #Catalonia #Cynelos #elsCasots #Eurasia #Europe #evolution #Fossil #mammal #Miocene #Molar #NorthAmerica #Paludocyon #Paludocyonmoyasolai #Science #spain #Teeth
https://www.newsbeep.com/us/699873/ -
#WeekendReading: Burke et al., on oxygen deficiency in the Atlantic during the Miocene. We're slowly building a nice global picture of the oxygen minimum zones through that period, and their relations to planetary temperatures.
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#WeekendReading: Mateu-Vicens et al., on how geometries of ancients reefs on the margins of the Red Sea might inform of Oligo-Miocene coral reefs being actually deeper than was thought.
Link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0031018226003378
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The rise and expansion of reef systems in the Indo-Pacific during the warm and CO2 high Miocene (and decline in the aftermath) will never stop being puzzling to me. Now we have evidence that it also had the biodiversity effects expected.
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Neogene Uplift Of The Chiribiquete Tabletop Mountains In The Colombian Amazon And Its Paleobiogeographic Implications
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.palaeo.2026.113645 <-- shared paper
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H/T Richard F. Ott
“The Chiribiquete are table top mountains located deep in the Colombian Amazon and host many rare endemic species. Helanlin Xiang's work shows that the Chiribiquete Mountains likely upifted before the Early Miocene and could have acted as a long-lived stepping stone, connecting species in the Andes with the Guyana Shield…”
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#Miocene #Paleogeography #Palynology #Amazonia #Caquetá #paleobiogeography #Columbia #Amazon #jungle #geomorphology #neogene #uplift #geology #structuralgeology #tectonics #Chiribiquete #tabletopmountains #Andes #GuyanaShield #dating #isotopes #biome #ecosystem #tepui #elevation #sedimentology #stratigraphy #Araracuara #fluvial #lacustrine #deposition orogeny #regional #uplift #drainage #hydrography #hydrology #river #network #GIS #spatial #mapping #spatialanalysis #spatiotemporal #geophysics #seismology -
A 7.2M-year-old femur from Bulgaria shows early bipedalism predating known African bipeds. The bone, tentatively attributed to Graecopithecus, suggests walking upright may have begun in Eurasia, not Africa. #HumanEvolution #Paleoanthropology #Miocene https://www.anthropology.net/p/a-72-million-year-old-femur-from
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Stupendemys geographica es la tortuga de agua dulce más grande que ha existido, con un caparazón que supera los 2 metros de longitud y la tonelada de peso. Vivió desde el Mioceno medio al comienzo del Plioceno (9-7,2 MdA) sin competición, manteniendo una dieta omnívora que incluía animales duros, como moluscos y pequeños cocodrilos. 📷Ryan Somma #mioceno #miocene #plioceno #pliocene
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#CentralAsia’s #fruit and #nut #forests: the real Garden of Eden?
Birthplaces of some of the world’s most beloved snacks
by Monica Evans
17 December 2020"Millions of years ago, in the temperate montane forests of a little-known region in Central Asia, some of the world’s best-loved fruit and nut trees began to grow. #Apples, #apricots, #cherries, #plums, #grapes, #figs, #peaches, #pomegranates, #pears, #almonds, #pistachios and #walnuts all originated in the hills and valleys of the #TianShan mountain range, which stretches from #Uzbekistan in the west to #China and #Mongolia in the east.
"The area is volcanic and geologically tumultuous, but fertile – scientists have hypothesized that in a place prone to frequent eruptions, earthquakes and landslides, shorter-lived tree species that could disperse their seeds widely by making themselves palatable to large mammals had a better shot at survival than long-lived, slow-maturing trees.
"And that tasty survival strategy has served these species well. For residents of the region, the foods represent both security and social currency. 'From the taxi drivers to the ministers to the local people, almost everyone carries some #DriedFruit or #Nuts with them,' says Paola Agostini, a lead natural resources specialist for Europe and Central Asia at the World Bank. 'It’s like this safety net, and it’s also a lovely gift: something to share with others that is always appreciated.'
"Central Asian marketplaces offer a cornucopia of colors, flavors, textures and varieties – many more than those most of us are accustomed to finding in our local supermarket’s produce aisle. 'I was always astonished that people in the region could so easily tell which country a particular dried apricot came from,' says Agostini. 'Their knowledge of these products is just so deep.'
"Procuring and sharing these energy-dense treats is an ancient practice in the area. Fruit and nuts were major commodities on the Silk Road, an ancient network of trade routes that tracked through the heart of Central Asia, linking Europe, the Middle East and Asia, from the first century BC through to the mid-1400s. Over centuries of trade and travel – and lots of munching by humans, camels and horses along the way – prized fruit and nut species spread their seeds wider and wider, and new hybrid varieties were created, many of which are now supermarket and home-orchard staples, cultivated enthusiastically in temperate regions across the globe.
"Narratives of plant domestication often tend to overstate the role of humans, but newer science suggests that 'evolution in parallel' with the plants we love is often a more accurate way of framing this process. 'It’s very unlikely that when somebody took an apple from #Kazakhstan and carried it across an entire continent, they were thinking that they could cross it with another variety and end up with something better,' says #RobertSpengler, a paleo-ethnobotanist at the Max Planck Institute in Jena, Germany. 'They were more likely just carrying the seeds to plant somewhere else. And in doing so, they inadvertently set off a chain reaction of hybridization events.'
"According to Spengler’s research into the origins of apples, humans were not the first mammals to participate in that process of dispersal and co-evolution, either. In the late #Miocene, which spanned the period from 11.63 to 5.33 million years ago, large mammals such as #mammoths and #horses played critical roles in dispersing apple seeds and facilitating their evolutionary process into the large, sweet, flavor-rich fruits we enjoy today."
#SolarPunkSunday #Ethnobotany #PlantHistory #SaveTheForests #SaveTheTrees #FruitTrees #NutTrees
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Another nice example of the long-term "it's all connected!" of the #ocean / #atmosphere system. When the Benguela Upwelling System shifted gears in the late #Miocene, it made southern #Africa more #arid.
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Its great when fossils you found, and helped others find, get used for research. Today the scores of wallaby bones that we have found at Alcoota are getting some attention
https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rsos.251591 -
The Betic Range experienced a kilometer-long topographic uplift since the Upper Miocene as a result of an epirogenic uplift driven by the tearing of the slabs. #miocene
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169555X25003010
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I remember Jeremy McCormack presenting this nice #zinc #isotope dataset @ EGU this year showing how #Miocene sharks had diverse roles in the marine foodweb. Great study, glad to see it found a nice home in EPSL!
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0012821X25001918 -
Ancient fossil sperm #whale may have been active predator https://phys.org/news/2025-05-ancient-patagonian-fossil-sperm-whale.html
Awakening #Patagonia's sleeping #SpermWhale: a new description of the Early #Miocene Idiorophus patagonicus. By Florencia Paolucci et al. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/spp2.70007
"Its snout features point to a lifestyle quite different from modern sperm #whales. It was likely an active predator of large #fish and possibly #seabirds, while extant #SpermWhales feed mostly on #cephalopods or small fish through suction feeding"
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Giant croc-like carnivore fossils found in the Caribbean https://phys.org/news/2025-04-giant-croc-carnivore-fossils-caribbean.html
A South American sebecid from the #Miocene of Hispaniola documents the presence of apex predators in early West Indies ecosystems https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2024.2891
"Imagine a #crocodile built like a greyhound—that's a sebecid. Standing tall, with some species reaching 20 feet in length, they dominated South American landscapes after the extinction of #dinosaurs"
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We have a new paper, led by our former student Jing Lyu. For a long time, there has been a debate, just how far south deoxygenation extended in the Indian #Ocean during the #Miocene. Using paleontological indexes, we can now show that, despite prior claims, it did not extend to Broken Ridge near Australia.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/earth-science/articles/10.3389/feart.2025.1528487/full
