Editing Neogene (section)

==Climate==
The global climate became more seasonal and continued an overall drying and cooling trend which began during the [[Paleogene]]. The [[Early Miocene]] was relatively cool;<ref name="ChristopherScotese">{{Cite journal |last1=Scotese |first1=Christopher R. |last2=Song |first2=Haijun |last3=Mills |first3=Benjamin J.W. |last4=van der Meer |first4=Douwe G. |date=April 2021 |title=Phanerozoic paleotemperatures: The earth's changing climate during the last 540 million years |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348351275 |journal=[[Earth-Science Reviews]] |volume=215 |pages=103503 |bibcode=2021ESRv..21503503S |doi=10.1016/j.earscirev.2021.103503 |issn=0012-8252 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210108000000/http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2021.103503 |archive-date=8 January 2021 |s2cid=233579194 |access-date=17 July 2023}} [https://eprints.whiterose.ac.uk/169823/ Alt URL]</ref> Early Miocene mid-latitude seawater and continental thermal gradients were already very similar to those of the present.<ref name="GoedertEtAl2017">{{cite journal |last1=Goedert |first1=Jean |last2=Amiot |first2=Romain |last3=Arnaut-Godet |first3=Florent |last4=Cuny |first4=Gilles |last5=Fourel |first5=François |last6=Hernandez |first6=Jean-Alexis |last7=Pedreira-Segade |first7=Ulysse |last8=Lécuyer |first8=Christophe |date=1 September 2017 |title=Miocene (Burdigalian) seawater and air temperatures estimated from the geochemistry of fossil remains from the Aquitaine Basin, France |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018216307568 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |volume=481 |pages=14–28 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2017.04.024 |bibcode=2017PPP...481...14G |access-date=30 November 2022}}</ref> During the [[Middle Miocene]], Earth entered a warm phase known as the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum (MMCO),<ref name="ChristopherScotese" /> which was driven by the emplacement of the [[Columbia River Basalt Group]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kasbohm |first1=Jennifer |last2=Schoene |first2=Blair |date=19 September 2018 |title=Rapid eruption of the Columbia River flood basalt and correlation with the mid-Miocene climate optimum |journal=[[Science Advances]] |volume=4 |issue=9 |pages=eaat8223 |doi=10.1126/sciadv.aat8223 |pmid=30255148 |pmc=6154988 |bibcode=2018SciA....4.8223K }}</ref> Around 11 Ma, the Middle Miocene Warm Interval gave way to the much cooler Late Miocene.<ref name="ChristopherScotese" /> The ice caps on both poles began to grow and thicken, a process enhanced by positive feedbacks from increased formation of sea ice.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=DeConto |first1=Robert |last2=Pollard |first2=David |last3=Harwood |first3=David |date=24 August 2007 |title=Sea ice feedback and Cenozoic evolution of Antarctic climate and ice sheets |journal=[[Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology]] |volume=22 |issue=3 |pages=1–18 |doi=10.1029/2006PA001350 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2007PalOc..22.3214D }}</ref> Between 7 and 5.3 Ma, a decrease in global temperatures termed the Late Miocene Cooling (LMC) ensued, driven by decreases in carbon dioxide concentrations.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tanner |first1=Thomas |last2=Hernández-Almeida |first2=Iván |last3=Drury |first3=Anna Joy |last4=Guitián |first4=José |last5=Stoll |first5=Heather |date=10 December 2020 |title=Decreasing Atmospheric CO2 During the Late Miocene Cooling |url=https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2020PA003925 |journal=[[Paleoceanography and Paleoclimatology]] |volume=35 |issue=12 |doi=10.1029/2020PA003925 |bibcode=2020PaPa...35.3925T |s2cid=230534117 |access-date=17 March 2023}}</ref> During the Pliocene, from about 5.3 to 2.7 Ma, another warm interval occurred, being known as the Pliocene Warm Interval (PWI), interrupting the longer-term cooling trend. The [[Middle Pliocene Warm Period|Pliocene Thermal Maximum]] (PTM) occurred between 3.3 and 3.0 Ma.<ref name="ChristopherScotese" /> During the Pliocene, [[Green Sahara]] phases of wet conditions in [[North Africa]] were frequent and occurred about every 21 kyr, being especially intense when Earth's orbit's eccentricity was high.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lupien |first1=Rachel |last2=Uno |first2=Kevin |last3=Rose |first3=Cassaundra |last4=deRoberts |first4=Nicole |last5=Hazan |first5=Cole |last6=de Menocal |first6=Peter |last7=Polissar |first7=Pratigya |date=9 October 2023 |title=Low-frequency orbital variations controlled climatic and environmental cycles, amplitudes, and trends in northeast Africa during the Plio-Pleistocene |journal=[[Communications Earth & Environment]] |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=360 |doi=10.1038/s43247-023-01034-7 |issn=2662-4435 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2023ComEE...4..360L }}</ref> The PWI had similar levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide to contemporary times and is often seen as an analogous climate to the projected climate of the near future as a result of [[Climate change|anthropogenic global warming]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Burke |first1=K. D. |last2=Williams |first2=J. W. |last3=Chandler |first3=M. A. |last4=Haywood |first4=A. M. |last5=Lunt |first5=D. J. |last6=Otto-Bliesner |first6=B. L. |date=26 December 2018 |title=Pliocene and Eocene provide best analogs for near-future climates |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |language=en |volume=115 |issue=52 |pages=13288–13293 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1809600115 |doi-access=free |issn=0027-8424 |pmc=6310841 |pmid=30530685 |bibcode=2018PNAS..11513288B }}</ref> Towards the end of the Pliocene, decreased heat transport towards the Antarctic resulting from a weakening of the [[Indonesian Throughflow]] (ITF) cooled the Earth, a process that exacerbated itself in a positive feedback as sea levels dropped and the ITF diminished and further limited the heat transported southward by the [[Leeuwin Current]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=De Vleeschouwer |first1=David |last2=Auer |first2=Gerald |last3=Smith |first3=Rebecca |last4=Bogus |first4=Kara |last5=Christensen |first5=Beth |last6=Groeneveld |first6=Jeroen |last7=Petrick |first7=Benjamin |last8=Henderiks |first8=Jorijntje |last9=Castañeda |first9=Isla S. |last10=O'Brien |first10=Evan |last11=Ellinghausen |first11=Maret |last12=Gallagher |first12=Stephen J. |last13=Fulthorpe |first13=Craig S. |last14=Pälike |first14=Heiko |date=October 2018 |title=The amplifying effect of Indonesian Throughflow heat transport on Late Pliocene Southern Hemisphere climate cooling |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0012821X18304412 |journal=[[Earth and Planetary Science Letters]] |language=en |volume=500 |pages=15–27 |doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2018.07.035 |bibcode=2018E&PSL.500...15D |access-date=13 April 2024 |via=Elsevier Science Direct}}</ref> By the end of the period the first of a series of glaciations of the [[Quaternary glaciation|current Ice Age]] began.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Benn |first1=Douglas I. |title=Glaciers & glaciation |date=2010 |publisher=Hodder Education |location=London |isbn=9780340905791 |pages=15–21 |edition=2nd}}</ref>