Latest Miocene Stories
A new university-led study with NASA participation finds ancient Antarctica was much warmer and wetter than previously suspected. The climate was suitable to support substantial vegetation -- including stunted trees -- along the edges of the frozen continent. The team of scientists involved in the study, published online June 17 in Nature Geoscience, was led by Sarah J. Feakins of the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and included researchers from NASA's Jet Propulsion...
WASHINGTON, June 17, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A new university-led study with NASA participation finds ancient Antarctica was much warmer and wetter than previously suspected. The climate was suitable to support substantial vegetation -- including stunted trees -- along the edges of the frozen continent. (Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20081007/38461LOGO ) The team of scientists involved in the study, published online June 17 in Nature Geoscience, was led by Sarah...
Scientists have long believed that global warming and levels of CO2 were associated. As levels of carbon dioxide increased, so too did the Earth’s temperatures. Now, paleoclimate researchers have studied ancient skeletons from microscopic plankton from the Miocene period to better understand our climate 12 to 5 million years ago. They found warmer periods and increased levels of CO2 didn’t always operate hand in hand, saying the two effects once operated independently of one another....
A recent study by an international group of evolutionary biologists has pointed to six broad yet distinct ‘waves’ of climate-induced mammalian diversity in the last 65 million years of evolution. Researchers say that extended periods of warming and cooling appear to signal the shift from one dominant grouping of mammals to the next. In the online version of the journal The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), Professor Christine Janis of Brown University and a...
A Spanish research team, using 3D reflection seismology, has for the first time mapped the geomorphological features of the Ebro river basin between five and six million years ago. The images obtained show that the surface analyzed is today 2.5 or 3 kilometers below the sea bed."The results shed light on the way in which the sea level fell during the Messinian (between 5.33 and 6 million years ago), and imply that the subsequent inundation of the river margins happened extremely...
Research led by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute scientist finds evidence that early antarctic circumpolar current development impacted global climateThirty-eight million years ago, tropical jungles thrived in what are now the cornfields of the American Midwest and furry marsupials wandered temperate forests in what is now the frozen Antarctic. The temperature differences of that era, known as the late Eocene, between the equator and Antarctica were only half of what they are today. A debate...
Between 5 and 10 million years ago, the landscape on Earth changed dramatically. Brown University biologists and colleagues have determined that cacti exploded onto the global scene then, about the same geologic time as other succulent plants and tropical grasses. The trigger: A global period marked by cooling and increased aridity, possibly with lowered atmospheric carbon-dioxide levels. Their findings appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.The cactus, stalwart of the...
According to a popular hypothesis, grasses such as maize, sugar cane, millet and sorghum got their evolutionary start as a result of a steep drop in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels during the Oligocene epoch, more than 23 million years ago. A new study overturns that hypothesis, presenting the first geological evidence that the ancestors of these and other C4 grasses emerged millions of years earlier than previously established.The findings are published in the journal Geology.C4 plants are...
GRAY, Tenn., Aug. 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- U-Haul today announced the release of 1,900 new 10-foot and 14-foot moving vans showcasing a newly discovered species of ancient red panda. This newest SuperGraphic also honors Tennessee's Gray Fossil Site, which is home to the world's most complete red panda (Pristinailurus bristoli) fossil. Scientists have uncovered more than 10,000 specimens at the Gray Fossil Site, including rhinos, elephants, alligators and camels ... all preserved in an...
The remains of a strange, prehistoric saber-tooth cat have been unearthed in an ancient former rainforest in Australia, scientists said Thursday. Paleontologist Henk Godthelp, who led the discovery, said this is the first time the carnivore had been seen in Australia. He called the find an exciting and unique discovery. The animal is "sort of like a native cat with a broad flattish head with large canines," said Godthelp. "It's an animal we don't think we've seen before up at Riversleigh so...
