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...

Ward et al. (1) ably show that samples of thickly enameled Middle Miocene hominoids that they attribute to a new genus, Equatorius, are distinct from Kenyapithecus. They fail to show, however, how Equatorius differs from Griphopithecus. In so doing, they may have missed the hominoid connection between Eurasia and Africa by 2 to 3 million years. The authors note the presence of a welldeveloped b...

[1] Two of the most popular mechanisms for thickening the crust beneath the Tibetan Plateau are (1) pure shear with faulting and folding in the upper crust and horizontal shortening below and (2) flow of lower or middle crust without significant shortening of the upper crust. To help discriminate between the relative contributions of these two mechanisms, well-constrained estimates of upper cru...

The geology of the Darien province of eastern Panama is presented through a new geologic map and detailed biostratigraphic and paleobathymetric analysis of its Upper Cretaceous to upper Miocene sediments. The sequence of events inferred from the stratigraphie record includes the collision of the Panama arc (the southwestern margin of the Caribbean plate) and South American continent. Three tect...

[1] We use paleomagnetic data from Tertiary volcanic rocks to address the rates and timing of vertical‐axis block rotations across the central Sierra Nevada‐Walker Lane transition in the Bodie Hills, California/Nevada. Samples from the Upper Miocene (∼9 Ma) Eureka Valley Tuff suggest clockwise vertical‐axis block rotations between NE‐striking left‐lateral faults in the Bridgeport and Mono Basin...

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 ...

the soltan dam on the river soltan, a branch of tine river, is located about 19 km of mateur city in the northeast of tunisia. the dam is now under study and will be constructed in 2017. the soltan dam has been designed as an earth fill dam with homogeneous materials. the dam and its associated concrete structures are mainly founded on marl, shale and shale of lower miocene age, sandstone of th...

The great ape and human clade (Primates: Hominidae) currently includes orangutans, gorillas, chimpanzees, bonobos, and humans. When, where, and from which taxon hominids evolved are among the most exciting questions yet to be resolved. Within the Afropithecidae, the Kenyapithecinae (Kenyapithecini + Equatorini) have been proposed as the sister taxon of hominids, but thus far the fragmentary and...

The middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (17–15 Ma; MCO) is a period of global warmth and relatively high CO2 and is thought to be associated with a significant retreat of the Antarctic Ice Sheet (AIS). We present here a new planktic foraminiferal dB record from 16.6 to 11.8 Ma from two deep ocean sites currently in equilibrium with the atmosphere with respect to CO2. These new data demonstrate that...

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...