The tectonic opening of Fram Strait during the Neogene was a significant geological event that transferred the Arctic Ocean from a poorly ventilated enclosed basin, with weak exchange with the North Atlantic, to a fully ventilated ‘‘ocean stage’’. Previous tectonic and physical oceanographic analyses suggest that the early Miocene Fram Strait was likely several times narrower and less than half...

The present study deals with heavy mineral analysis of late Early Miocene marine sediments recovered in the McMurdo Sound region (Ross Sea, Antarctica) during the ANDRILL— SMS Project in 2007. The main objective is to investigate how heavy mineral assemblages reflect different source rocks and hence different provenance areas. These data contribute to a better understanding of East Antarctica i...

Quantifying the erosional and kinematic evolution of orogenic plateaus has been limited by insufficient age constraints on their deformation and erosion histories. Palinspastic restorations suggest the central Andean fold-thrust belt and plateau evolved concurrently in Bolivia. We present an analysis that synthesizes 19 new and 32 previous apatite and zircon fission-track and (U–Th)/He mineral ...

INTRODUCTION Geological evolution of the Amazon Basin. The geological history of lowland Amazonia is still poorly understood, in part because much of the Tertiary stratigraphic history has been removed by erosion and that which remains is difficult to study and access in a rainforest environment. The landscape evolution of Amazonia during the Neogene was influenced mainly by Andean tectonics an...

—The rapid ecological expansion of grasses with C4 photosynthesis at the end of the Neogene (8-2 Ma) is well documented in the fossil record of stable carbon isotopes. As one of the most profound vegetation changes to occur in recent geologic time, it paved the way for modern tropical grassland ecosystems. Changes in CO2 levels, seasonality, aridity, herbivory, and fire regime have all been sug...

A new species of fossil bumble bee (Apinae: Bombini) is described and figured from Early Miocene (Burdigalian) deposits of the Most Basin at the Bílina Mine, Czech Republic. Bombus trophoniussp. n., is placed within the subgenus Cullumanobombus Vogt and distinguished from the several species groups therein. The species is apparently most similar to the Nearctic B. (Cullumanobombus) rufocinctus ...