Oligocene Epoch
Third and last major worldwide division of the Paleogene Period (65.5 million to 23 million years ago), spanning the interval between 33.9 million to 23 million years ago. The Oligocene Epoch is subdivided into two ages and their corresponding rock stages: the Rupelian and the Chattian. It followed the Eocene Epoch and was succeeded by the Miocene Epoch, the first epoch of the Neogene Period. The term Oligocene is derived from Greek and means the “epoch of few recent forms,” referring to the sparseness of the number of modern animals that originated during that time.
In western Europe the beginning of the Oligocene was marked by an invasion of the sea that brought with it new mollusks characteristic of the epoch. Marine conditions did not exist for long, however, and brackish and freshwater conditions soon prevailed. This cycle of marine transgression, followed by the establishment of brackish and then freshwater environments, was repeated during the Oligocene. Sediments on the floor of the ancient Tethyan Sea, which covered part of Eurasia during the Oligocene, were deformed early in the development of the European Alps.
Third and last major worldwide division of the Paleogene Period (65.5 million to 23 million years ago), spanning the interval between 33.9 million to 23 million years ago. The Oligocene Epoch is subdivided into two ages and their corresponding rock stages: the Rupelian and the Chattian. It followed the Eocene Epoch and was succeeded by the Miocene Epoch, the first epoch of the Neogene Period. The term Oligocene is derived from Greek and means the “epoch of few recent forms,” referring to the sparseness of the number of modern animals that originated during that time.
In western Europe the beginning of the Oligocene was marked by an invasion of the sea that brought with it new mollusks characteristic of the epoch. Marine conditions did not exist for long, however, and brackish and freshwater conditions soon prevailed. This cycle of marine transgression, followed by the establishment of brackish and then freshwater environments, was repeated during the Oligocene. Sediments on the floor of the ancient Tethyan Sea, which covered part of Eurasia during the Oligocene, were deformed early in the development of the European Alps.
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