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The Eocene–Oligocene extinction event, also called the Eocene-Oligocene transition (EOT) or Grande Coupure (French for "great cut"), is the transition between the end of the Eocene and the beginning of the Oligocene, an extinction event and faunal turnover occurring between 33.9 and 33.4 million years ago. [1]
The Eocene-Oligocene Boundary 33.9 million years ago was the transition from the last greenhouse period to the present icehouse climate. [17] [18] [10] At this point, when ~25% more of Antarctica's surface was above sea level and able to support land-based ice sheets relative to today, [19] CO 2 levels had dropped to 750 ppm. [20]
The Oligocene is preceded by the Eocene Epoch and is followed by the Miocene Epoch. The Oligocene is the third and final epoch of the Paleogene Period. 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. [9]
Following the maximum was a descent into an icehouse climate from the Eocene Optimum to the Eocene–Oligocene transition at 34 Ma. During this decrease, ice began to reappear at the poles, and the Eocene–Oligocene transition is the period of time when the Antarctic ice sheet began to rapidly expand. [52]
This diverse group of stocky prehistoric mammals grazed amid the grasslands, prairies, or savannas of North and Central America throughout much of the Cenozoic era. First appearing 48 million years ago (Mya) during the warm Eocene epoch of the Paleogene period, the oreodonts dominated the American landscape 34 to 23 Mya during the dry Oligocene epoch, but they mysteriously disappeared 4 Mya ...
The Drake Passage opened 33.9 million years ago (the Eocene-Oligocene transition), severing Antarctica from South America. The Antarctic Circumpolar Current could then flow through it, isolating Antarctica from warm waters and triggering the formation of its huge ice sheets.
"Creodont" groups had an extensive range, both geographically and temporally. They are known from the late Paleocene through the late Oligocene in North America, the early Eocene through late Oligocene in Europe, from the late Paleocene through late Miocene in Asia, and from the late Paleocene to the late Miocene in Africa. [14]
From the point of view of magnetostratigraphy, the depositional sequence ranges from Chron 17 (Qasr-el-Sagha Formation) to Chron 10 (Gebel-Qatrani Formation), the corresponding age data being 38 to 28.5 million years. The transition from the Eocene to the Oligocene is found in Chron 13, which occupies the lower part of the Gebel-Qatrani Formation.