| Britain. | ||
| Newer Pliocene. | Norwich Sand loam and gravel Marine, land, and fresh-water shells | |
| Many shells abundant, such as | Fusus striatus "antiquus Tunitella communis Cardium edule, still existing in adjacent sea. Norwich Crag. | |
| Older Pliocene. | Crag | Red, White, or Coralline |
MIOCENE.
| BRITAIN. | FRANCE. | OTHER COUNTRIES OF EUROPE. | INDIA. | AMERICA. | ||
| Upper Miocene. | Ferruginous sands of the North downs. | Faluns of Touraine and Bordeaux. | Edgehem beds Diest sands Boldeberg beds | Belgium | Fresh-water deposits of Siwalik hills with Mastodon Sivatherium Colossochelys Rhinoceros Felis Machairodus Equus Hippotherium Camelopardalis | Fresh-water deposits in Oregon White river group in the Upper Missouri Regions Oreodont Brontetherium. Wind river group (Fresh-water deposit). Miocene deposits over a large part of the Atlantic Tertiary border. In California Miocene marine deposits reach from 4,000 to 5,000 feet in thickness. |
| Dinotherium. | ||||||
| Terebratula grandis. | Mastodon. | Superga beds | Italy | |||
| Lamantine. | Deposits of Pikermé | Greece | ||||
| Astarte pyrula with other shells common to the Crag. | Marine shells such as Cypræa, Oliva, Mitra, Conus, indicative of an elevated temperature. | with Mastodon Dinotherium Hipparion Antelope Camelopardalis | ||||
| Fresh-water deposits of Gers near the base of the Pyrenees. | Beds above the brown coal with Marine shells | Croatia | ||||
| Dinotherium giganteum. | ||||||
| Mastodon angustidens. | Fresh-water Molasse at Oeningen Abundant flora Marine Molasse | Switzerland | ||||
| Lower Miocene. | Hempstead beds, Isle of Wight. | Calcaire de la Beauce, fresh-water deposits of Auvergne, Sandstone, indusial limestone of Cantal. | Kleyn Spawn beds and Limburg beds | Belgium | ||
| Marine and fresh water Voluta Cyrena Cerithium | Fluvio-marine strata of Merignac and Bazas? | Marine and Fluvialite shells | ||||
| &c. &c. | Cerithium, Pyrula, &c. | Most of the Lignites are Lower Miocene | Germany | |||
| Lignite deposits of Bovey Tracey. | Asterias limestone. | |||||
| Nummulites. | Lower (fresh-water) Molasse | |||||
| Numerous plants, such as Sequoia Nysa Annona, indicating a sub-tropical climate. | Fresh-water strata of Fontainebleau. Grès de Fontainebleau (Marine). | |||||
EOCENE.
The subdivisions of the Eocene have been worked out in great detail in Britain, France, and America. Those of most other countries have either not yet been fully studied or their exact equivalence remains undetermined.
| BRITAIN. | FRANCE. | CONTINENT OF EUROPE AND ASIA. | INDIA. | N. AMERICA. | S. AMERICA. | ||||||
| Upper Miocene. | A1 Bembridge Series | Palæotherium Anoplotherium Chæropotamus &c. | Gypseous Series of Montmatre | Land and fresh-water shells Many quadrupeds (⅘ths of them Perrissodactyls), Trionyx, Emys | East of the Rocky Mts. | The Claiborne beds are considered by Lyell as the equivalent of the Middle Eocene of Britain; the parallelism of the other American deposits has not yet been completed. | West of the Rocky Mts. | Deposits believed to be of Tertiary age, in the Pampas, contain Palæotherium and Anoplotherium, and other forms presenting a resemblance to the fauna of that period in Europe. | |||
| A2 Osborne Series | Fresh-water & brackishgenera | Calcaire Siliceux | Uinta group Uintatherium | ||||||||
| A3 Headon Series | Do. Emys Trionyx Alligator Crocodilus Lepidosteus | Vicksburg beds | Bridger group | ||||||||
| A4 Barton Clay | Voluta Mitra | Grès de Beauchamp | Nummulites | Orohippus Dinoceras Uintatherium Tinocoras Tillotherium | |||||||
| Middle Miocene. | B1 Bagshot and Bracklesham Sands and Clays | Cerithium Voluta Cowries Marine Serpents Nummulites | Calcaire Grossier | Miliolite limestone of minute Foraminifera. Nummulites Cerithium, &c. &c. | Nummulitic Limestone of the Alps, Carpathians N. Africa Asia Minor Western Thibet. | Nummulitic formation of Cutch, portions of the Himalaya, and frontiers of China. | [The Alabama Period] Marine deposits | Claiborne beds | |||
| indicating a warm climate with a vegetation reminding the botanist of the types of tropical India and Australia | Zeuglodon cetoides | Green River group | |||||||||
| B2 Wanting | Soissonnais Sands | Nummulites Nerita, &c. &c. | |||||||||
| Lower Miocene. | C1 London Clay and Bognor beds | Palms Turtles Sea Snakes Crocodiles Conus, Voluta, Cyprina, Nautilus, | Argile de Londres | Wahsatch | |||||||
| and other shells indicating a semi-tropical climate | Coryphodon Eohippus | ||||||||||
| C2 Plastic and Mottled Clays and Sands | Argile plastique and lignite | Fluviatile shells Large bird Gastornis Parisiensis | |||||||||
| C3 Thanet Sands | Pholadomya Cyprina, &c. | Sables de Bracheux | Laramic or Lignitic Period. | ||||||||
We learn, both from the nature of these deposits and from their organic contents, that climatic oscillations have been passing during the whole period of their deposition over the surface of the globe, and inducing corresponding fluctuations in the character of the vegetable and animal life abounding on it. A complete collation of these varying conditions at synchronous periods remains to be achieved, but the study of our own country, and those adjacent to it, shows that alternations of tropical, boreal, and temperate climate have occurred in it; a remarkable series of conditions which has only lately been thoroughly and satisfactorily accounted for.
Thus, during a portion of the Eocene period a tropical climate prevailed, as is evidenced by deposits containing remains of palms of an equatorial type, crocodiles, turtles, tropical shells, and other remains attesting the existence of a high temperature. The converse is proved of the Pleistocene by the existence of a boreal fauna, and the widespread evidences of glacial action. The gradations of climate during the Miocene and Pliocene, and the amelioration subsequent to the glacial period, have resulted in the gradual development or appearance of specific life as it exists at present.