Everything you need to know about the Oligocene

Oligocene

During the Cenozoic era there were various changes on the planet both in terms of geology and flora and fauna. Today we are going to talk about the third epoch that made up the Cenozoic. Its about Oligocene. The Oligocene spanned from about 33.9 million years ago to about 23 million years ago. In all these years our planet underwent notable changes. These changes are what caused a redistribution of living beings, both plants and animals. In addition, the climate played a fundamental role during the process of changes in living beings since it created some conditions so that certain animals or plants could prosper more and others could not survive. In this way, a new form of natural selection was established.

In this article we are going to tell you everything you need to know about the Oligocene.

Key features

Oligocene animals

The Oligocene is a time that has always fascinated all specialists who focus on studying the geological time. All those who have spent enough time to be able to know the hidden aspects of the different geological stages of the planet have been left with the fascinating things that happened to our planet during the Oligocene.

This is a time that has lasted an average of 11 million years. During this time the continents have been rearranged thanks to the movement of the continental plates. This movement has caused the continents to occupy positions similar to those they occupy today. The Oligocene is also known as the age of mammals. And it is that it is the group of animals that could experience greater diversification and variety during this time. It is in this period of 11 million years when subdivisions of mammals such as rodents or canids appear.

Regarding the geology of the Oligocene it was a time of considerable geological and orogenic activity. We can see that the fragmentation of the super continent Pangea continued and many of its fragments were displaced to occupy a position similar to the ones they have today. Two large-scale orogenic processes took place during this time: the Laramide Orogeny and the Alpine Orogeny.

Oligocene Geology

Cenozoic geology

We are going to go through all the characteristics of the Oligocene one by one. We start with geology. The fragmentation of the super continent known as Pangea it became more and more evident when the fragment that corresponds to South America was separated. This displacement of the continent caused a slow movement towards the west in order to meet North America and form what we know today as the American continent in its entirety.

Antarctica continued its separation from the rest of the continents and the ice cover deepened as it got closer and closer to the South Pole. There are many specialists who have denied various conclusions such as that at this time the plate corresponding to the African continent collided with Eurasia and also did so with the fragment that we now know as India.

At the end of the Oligocene, all land masses were already in a position quite similar to the one we have today. The same goes for the oceans. The oceans were arranged in such a way that there were several oceans that separated the continents of today. Among these oceans we can mention the Pacific Ocean, the Atlantic Ocean and the Indian.

Oligocene climate

Oligocene epoch

As for the Oligocene climate, the conditions were quite extreme. It was characterized mainly by very low temperatures. During all this time both Antarctica and Greenland remained covered with ice and increasing more and more. Likewise, when Antarctica was completely separated from South America, it caused various marine currents to completely circulate around it. One of these ocean currents is the Circumpolar Antarctica. This marine current is considered one of the most important, since it was responsible for covering the entire continent of Antarctica with ice and the formation of glaciers.

The decrease in global temperature caused consequences in the modification of some ecosystems. The predominance of vegetation was coniferous and deciduous forests. These trees have been able to survive these extreme environments because they are able to survive in low temperatures.

Flora and fauna

Reptile development

All of life became more and more diversified in both plants and animals. Despite the fact that the climatic conditions were not entirely favorable, the organisms were able to adapt to these conditions and survive.

Let's talk about the flora first. The Oligocene flora is characterized by the fact that angiosperms could begin to spread through a large number of habitats. These plants even reached the dominance they have today. During all this time, a decrease in tropical forests could be seen due to the drop in global temperatures. These tropical forests were replaced by herbaceous plants and grasslands that were adapted to more extreme temperature conditions. These grasslands and herbaceous plants spread across all continents.

And it is that herbaceous plants had great evolutionary success thanks to the adaptation of their own characteristics in growth. These plants have a continuous growth rate that never stops. In addition, these types of plants had to face the action of various animals such as grazers that fed on them. This is how they could develop different adaptive capacities to be able to survive in these environments and even establish a symbiotic relationship with other animals. And it is that many animals helped them to spread their seeds through excrement.

During this time also Legume-type plants such as beans were developed.

Regarding the fauna, there are many groups of animals that were able to diversify and increase their area of ​​distribution. Despite the climatic conditions in which they were found, many groups of animals such as birds, reptiles and mammals increased their distribution.

There were birds and reptiles, although the greatest notoriety was taken by mammals. Importantly, the Cenozoic is considered the era of mammals.

I hope that with this information you can learn more about the Oligocene.


Be the first to comment

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *

*

*

  1. Responsible for the data: Miguel Ángel Gatón
  2. Purpose of the data: Control SPAM, comment management.
  3. Legitimation: Your consent
  4. Communication of the data: The data will not be communicated to third parties except by legal obligation.
  5. Data storage: Database hosted by Occentus Networks (EU)
  6. Rights: At any time you can limit, recover and delete your information.