Pliocene
The Pliocene is a geological epoch lasting from about 5.33 to 2.58 million years ago. It followed the Miocene and preceded the Pleistocene.
Geologic time scale: The system that divides Earth’s history into nested units based on geology and geochronology. The Pliocene is one epoch within this hierarchy of geological time.
Pliocene climate: The global climate pattern of the Pliocene, generally warmer than the preindustrial climate and varying through the epoch. It captures the epoch’s defining shifts in temperature, rainfall, and ice cover.
Pliocene Research, Interpretation and Synoptic Mapping: A project that reconstructs global Pliocene environments using fossil, geological, and climate-model evidence. Its reconstructions bring scattered evidence together into maps of epoch-wide conditions.
Pliocene hominin evolution: The evolutionary changes among human relatives during the Pliocene, including increased bipedal adaptation and dietary diversity. The epoch contains key evidence for early branches of human evolution.
Neogene: The geological period spanning about 23.0 to 2.58 million years ago, comprising the Miocene and Pliocene epochs. The Pliocene is the final epoch of this period.
Pliocene sea-level change: Changes in global sea level during the Pliocene, driven chiefly by temperature and the volume of land ice. Sea level records how warmth and shrinking ice reshaped coastlines.
Pliocene hominins: Early human relatives that lived during the Pliocene, including australopiths and early members of the genus Homo. Their fossils trace major stages of human evolution within the epoch.
Great American Interchange: The migration of terrestrial animals between North and South America after a land connection formed. The developing Panamanian connection enabled this major exchange during the late Pliocene.
Miocene: A geological epoch lasting from about 23.0 to 5.33 million years ago, before the Pliocene. Its end marks the beginning of the Pliocene.
Atlantic meridional overturning circulation: A system of Atlantic currents that transports heat northward and returns colder deep water southward. Changes in Atlantic heat transport influenced Pliocene regional climates.