In this study, four well-exposed outcrops of the Asmari Fm in the southeastern part of the Izeh Zone of the Zagros Mountains were measured and sampled. In this region, the Asmari Fm is Oligocene to Early Miocene in age as determined by large benthic foraminifera. Based on depositional geometries, biogenic contents and lateral and vertical variations of facies, three depositional models are prop...

â â â  abstract â  in this study, 129 samples of the qom formation in kaltakeh, south east mahneshan, were investigated. the thickness of qom formation in the examined section is 565m and comprises of limestone, sandy limestone, marl, shale and argillaceous limestone . at this locality, the qom sediments disconformably overlies the lower red formation and underlies the upper red formation. amon...

BACKGROUND Mammalian fossils from the Eppelsheim Formation (Dinotheriensande) have been a benchmark for Neogene vertebrate palaeontology since 200 years. Worldwide famous sites like Eppelsheim serve as key localities for biochronologic, palaeobiologic, environmental, and mammal community studies. So far the formation is considered to be of early Late Miocene age (~9.5 Ma, Vallesian), representi...

1 Key Laboratory of Cenozoic Geology and Environment, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 9825, 100029 Beijing, China 2 Shandong Institute and Laboratory of Geological Sciences, 250013 Jinan, China 3 Nansen-Zhu International Research Center, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 100029 Beijing, China 4 State Key Laboratory of Loess...

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 ...

Recent onshore New Jersey drilling (Ocean Drilling Program Leg 150X) provided excellent recovery of lower to middle Miocene sequences that we dated with Sr isotopic stratigraphy. Sequence boundaries correlate with deep-sea dO increases (inferred glacioeustatic lowerings), indicating a primary control by global sea-level change. Maryland Miocene outcrops appear to correlate with New Jersey seque...

A series of Oligocene through Early Miocene terrestrial deposits preserved in the foothills of the Zinda Pir Dome of western Pakistan produce multiple, superposed fossil mammal localities. These include small mammal assemblages that shed light on the evolution of rodent lineages, especially Muroidea, in South Asia. Nine small mammal localities span approximately 28-19 Ma, an interval encompassi...

A new genus and species of hipposiderid bat is described from an early Miocene cave deposit (Bitesantennary Site) in the Riversleigh World Heritage fossil property, northern Australia. Eight hipposiderid genera are now recorded from Riversleigh’s Miocene sediments: Hipposideros, Brachipposideros, Rhinonycteris, Riversleigha, Xenorhinos, Miophyllorhina, Archerops and Brevipalatus gen. nov. The n...

We re−describe the type material of the tiny African tragulid “Dorcatherium” moruorotensis from the early Miocene of Kenya, and erect the new genus Afrotragulus, the first African Miocene tragulid that does not belong to Dorcatherium. This new taxon is characterized by its elongated and stretched lower molars with a unique morphological dental pattern that strongly contrasts with that of Dorcat...

Progressive changes are observed in both the composition of mammal faunas and vegetation during the Miocene epoch [24-5 mega-annum (Ma)]. These changes are usually interpreted as a response to climatic changes. In the traditional view, forests or woodlands gradually gave way to more open habitats, with grazing (grass-eating) ungulate (hoofed) mammal species replacing the browsing (leafy-vegetat...