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| European Land Mammal Ages | |
|---|---|
| Name | European Land Mammal Ages |
| Start | Late Paleogene |
| End | Holocene |
| Used region | Europe |
| Named for | Land mammal faunas |
European Land Mammal Ages are a sequence of terrestrial biochronological units used to subdivide Cenozoic terrestrial strata across Europe using mammalian faunal change as the primary criterion. Developed to facilitate communication among paleontologists and stratigraphers, the scheme links fossil assemblages to regional lithostratigraphic and chronostratigraphic frameworks, aiding correlations with marine successions, tectonic events, and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions for regions such as the Iberian Peninsula, Alps, and Balkans.
The system organizes Cenozoic terrestrial deposits into successive named ages, each defined by characteristic mammalian taxa and first or last appearances of key genera and species. It is applied across depositional basins including the Paris Basin, Moine Supergroup exposures, and the Carpathians, integrating data from fossil sites in countries such as France, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Greece. Users include researchers from institutions like the Natural History Museum, London, the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, and the Senckenberg Gesellschaft für Naturforschung.
Origins trace to comparative work by 19th and 20th century paleontologists who correlated continental faunas with marine stages recognized by figures like Charles Lyell and Louis Agassiz. Major formalization occurred during meetings of specialists convened in the mid-20th century at institutions such as the British Museum (Natural History) and the Royal Society, influenced by researchers affiliated with universities including University of Cambridge, University of Vienna, and University of Madrid. Key contributors include proponents from the International Commission on Stratigraphy community and regional experts who standardized names drawing on type localities in areas like the Calatayud Basin and the Ebro Basin.
The scheme subdivides the Cenozoic into ages including the MP (Mammal Paleogene) and MN (Mammal Neogene) zones, with numbered units that correspond to classic divisions recognized in regional frameworks. Chronostratigraphic anchors tie ages to global stages such as the Ypresian, Lutetian, Bartonian, Priabonian, Miocene, Pliocene, and Pleistocene. Type sections and reference localities occur across formations like the Lignite Basin exposures in Germany and the Vena del Gesso deposits in Italy. Correlative markers include faunal turnovers linked to events such as the Grande Coupure and the Messinian Salinity Crisis.
Correlation efforts map land-mammal ages onto the International Chronostratigraphic Chart maintained by the International Commission on Stratigraphy and compare faunal signals with marine proxies recorded in basins such as the North Sea Basin, Mediterranean Sea, and Black Sea. Radiometric calibration uses tie-points from volcanic ash beds associated with sequences studied by teams at the Geological Survey of Finland and the Geological Survey of Austria. Paleomagnetic records from sections investigated by groups at ETH Zurich and the University of Oxford provide polarity chrons that improve alignment with the Geologic Time Scale.
Each age is characterized by assemblages dominated by taxa from orders and families that include representatives described by paleontologists at institutions like the Smithsonian Institution and the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology. Representative genera include well-known fossil mammals whose names are preserved in museum collections at the Natural History Museum of Vienna and the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. Studies of teeth, limb bones, and postcranial material from localities in Turkey, Romania, and Portugal underpin biozone definitions and facilitate recognition of provincialism and dispersal, including migrations via corridors connected to the Turgai Strait and the Gibraltar region.
Dating integrates biostratigraphy with absolute methods such as radiometric techniques applied to tephra layers by teams at the Gran Sasso Science Institute and the University of Iceland. Magnetostratigraphy from exposures studied by researchers at institutions including the P. P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology yields polarity sequences used alongside chemostratigraphy from cores analyzed by groups at the University of Barcelona. Stable isotope studies of associated carbonates and paleosols from laboratories at the University of Lyon and the Institute of Earth Sciences (CSIC) provide palaeoclimatic context that refines correlations with global events like the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum.
The framework supports reconstructions of Cenozoic mammal evolution, faunal turnover, and biogeographic patterns investigated by scholars at the University of Zurich, University College London, and the University of Copenhagen. It underpins research on extinction and origination dynamics tied to climatic shifts recorded in archives curated by the Natural History Museum, Vienna and informs conservation paleobiology initiatives linked to organizations like the European Geosciences Union. By enabling high-resolution temporal placement of terrestrial finds from fossil localities across Siberia to the Iberian Peninsula, the scheme remains central to studies of mammalian adaptation, dispersal routes, and responses to Neogene and Quaternary environmental change.
Category:Paleontology Category:Cenozoic Europe Category:Biostratigraphy