Table of Contents
- 1 What does the name Oligocene mean?
- 2 What is Oligocene period?
- 3 What happened in the Oligocene period?
- 4 What happened in the Oligocene epoch?
- 5 What plants lived in the Oligocene period?
- 6 What major events happened in the Oligocene epoch?
- 7 What kind of plants were in the Oligocene epoch?
- 8 What was the climate like in the late Oligocene?
What does the name Oligocene mean?
The name Oligocene comes from the Greek ὀλίγος and καινός, and refers to the sparsity of additional modern mammalian species of fauna after a burst of evolution during the Eocene. The Oligocene is the third and final epoch of the Paleogene Period.
What is Oligocene period?
Paleogene
Oligocene/Period
Oligocene Epoch, third and last major worldwide division of the Paleogene Period (65.5 million to 23 million years ago), spanning the interval between 33.9 million to 23 million years ago. The Oligocene Epoch is subdivided into two ages and their corresponding rock stages: the Rupelian and the Chattian.
What started the Oligocene?
33.9 million years ago
Oligocene/Began
How did the Oligocene end?
23.03 million years ago
Oligocene/Ended
What happened in the Oligocene period?
Oligocene Epoch (33.9 – 23 MYA) Open plains and deserts became more common and grasslands began to spread. A vast inland sea that had once separated Europe and Asia dried up and increased ease of movement of animals meant that the faunas of the two continents became very similar.
What happened in the Oligocene epoch?
The Oligocene is often considered an important time of transition, a link between the archaic world of the tropical Eocene and the more modern ecosystems of the Miocene. Major changes during the Oligocene included a global expansion of grasslands, and a regression of tropical broad leaf forests to the equatorial belt.
What happened in the Oligocene?
What happened in the Oligocene time period?
Subdivision of the Paleogene Period according to the ICS, as of January 2013. The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present (33.9±0.1 to 23.03±0.05 Ma).
What plants lived in the Oligocene period?
In North America the flora consisted of a mixture of subtropical elements, such as cashews and lychee trees, with temperate trees such as roses, beech and pine. Leguminous plants of the pea and bean family were common, as were sedges, bulrushes and a variety of ferns.
What major events happened in the Oligocene epoch?
Which is the best definition of the Oligocene?
Definition of Oligocene. : of, relating to, or being an epoch of the Tertiary between the Eocene and Miocene or the corresponding series of rocks — see Geologic Time Table.
When did the Oligocene epoch start and end?
The Oligocene is a geologic epoch of the Paleogene period and extends from about 33.9 million to 23 million years before the present (33.9±0.1 to 23.03±0.05 Ma). As with other older geologic periods, the rock beds that define the period are well identified but the exact dates of the start and end of the period are slightly uncertain.
What kind of plants were in the Oligocene epoch?
Sometime during the Oligocene Epoch (33.9 million to 23 million years ago), certain of the angiosperms (grasses and dicotyledonous plants) of mainly tropical climates evolved a CO 2-fixation system that acted ahead of the Calvin-Benson cycle.
What was the climate like in the late Oligocene?
Late Oligocene warming The late Oligocene (26.5 to 24 mya) likely saw a warming trend in spite of low pCO2 levels, though this appears to vary by region. However, Antarctica remained heavily glaciated during this warming period.