MIOCENE 5 i 5 



the marine straits. The basins of Vienna and Hungary had a very 

 complex history, with repeated changes of size and position, re- 

 sulting in the formation of an immense inland sea (the Sarmatian 

 Sea), which reached from Vienna to the Black, Aral, and ^Egean 

 Seas, and was nearly as large as the present Mediterranean. This 

 vast basin had but a limited connection with the ocean, and repre- 

 sented conditions much like those of the Black Sea at present. 

 Europe had also a number of fresh-water lakes, particularly in 

 France, Switzerland, and Germany, which have preserved a very 

 interesting record of Miocene land life. A comparison with that 

 of North America shows that a way of migration was still open 

 between the two continents. 



In the Old World the Miocene was a time of mountain making. 

 The Pyrenees had been elevated in the later Eocene ; the Alps 

 received nearly their present altitude in the Miocene. The Apen- 

 nines had two distinct phases of upheaval, one in the Eocene and 

 one in the Miocene, the latter coinciding with that of the Alps. The 

 Caucasus dates from the close of the Miocene, while the date of the 

 Himalayas is yet uncertain, but was either Eocene or Miocene. 



Marine Miocene beds occur in northeast Africa, on the coast of 

 the Soudan, and in Australia and New Zealand. 



Miocene Life 



The life of the Miocene is in all respects a great advance upon 

 that of the Eocene and Oligocene. The Grasses greatly multiply 

 and take possession of the open spaces, producing a revolution 

 in the conditions of food for the herbivorous animals. The vege- 

 tation of North America, as far north as Montana, perhaps even 

 to northern British Columbia, still bore a southern character. In 

 the Upper Miocene tuffs of the Yellowstone Park and contemporary 

 strata of Oregon are found such trees as Poplars, Walnuts, Hicko- 

 ries, Oaks, Elms, Maples, Beeches, noble forms of Magnolias and 

 Sycamores. One species of Aralia had leaves 2 feet long by 3 

 inches wide. Curiously enough, the Breadfruit (^Ar to carpus') flour- 

 ished in Oregon, and probably on the Yellowstone also. Conifers 

 were numerous and varied. 



