View source for Miocene

=== Eurasia ===
The [[Indian Plate]] continued to collide with the [[Eurasian Plate]], creating new [[mountain range]]s and uplifting the [[Tibetan Plateau]], resulting in the [[rain shadow]]ing and aridification of the Asian interior.<ref name="JiaEtAl2020">{{cite journal |last1=Jia |first1=Yunxia |last2=Wu |first2=Haibin |last3=Zhu |first3=Shuya |last4=Li |first4=Qin |last5=Zhang |first5=Chunxia |last6=Yu |first6=Yanyan |last7=Sun |first7=Aizhi |date=1 November 2020 |title=Cenozoic aridification in Northwest China evidenced by paleovegetation evolution |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018220303527 |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |volume=557 |article-number=109907 |doi=10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109907 |bibcode=2020PPP...55709907J |s2cid=224891646 |access-date=30 November 2022|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The [[Tian Shan]] experienced significant uplift in the Late Miocene, blocking westerlies from coming into the [[Tarim Basin]] and drying it as a result.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chang |first1=Jian |last2=Glorie |first2=Stijn |last3=Qiu |first3=Nansheng |last4=Min |first4=Kyoungwon |last5=Xiao |first5=Yao |last6=Xu |first6=Wei |date=28 December 2020 |title=Late Miocene (10.0~6.0 Ma) Rapid Exhumation of the Chinese South Tianshan: Implications for the Timing of Aridification in the Tarim Basin |url=https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/2020GL090623 |journal=[[Geophysical Research Letters]] |volume=48 |issue=3 |pages=1–11 |article-number=e2020GL090623 |doi=10.1029/2020GL090623 |s2cid=233964312 |access-date=21 May 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

At the beginning of the Miocene, the northern margin of the [[Arabian plate]], then part of the African landmass, collided with Eurasia; as a result, the [[Tethys Ocean|Tethys]] seaway continued to shrink and then disappeared as [[Africa]] collided with [[Eurasia]] in the [[Turkey|Turkish]]–[[Arabian Peninsula|Arabian]] region.{{sfn|Torsvik|Cocks|2017|p=261–264}} The first step of this closure occurred 20 Ma, reducing water mass exchange by 90%, while the second step occurred around 13.8 Ma, coincident with a major expansion of Antarctic glaciers.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bialik |first1=Or M. |last2=Frank |first2=Martin |last3=Betzler |first3=Christian |last4=Zammit |first4=Ray |last5=Waldmann |first5=Nicolas D. |date=20 June 2019 |title=Two-step closure of the Miocene Indian Ocean Gateway to the Mediterranean |journal=[[Scientific Reports]] |volume=9 |issue=1 |page=8842 |doi=10.1038/s41598-019-45308-7 |pmid=31222018 |pmc=6586870 |bibcode=2019NatSR...9.8842B }}</ref> This severed the connection between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and formed the present land connection between Afro-Arabia and Eurasia.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Torfstein |first1=Adi |last2=Steinberg |first2=Josh |date=14 August 2020 |title=The Oligo–Miocene closure of the Tethys Ocean and evolution of the proto-Mediterranean Sea |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343661439 |journal=[[Scientific Reports]] |language=en |volume=10 |issue=1 |page=13817 |doi=10.1038/s41598-020-70652-4 |pmid=32796882 |issn=2045-2322 |pmc=7427807 |bibcode=2020NatSR..1013817T |access-date=4 September 2023}}</ref> The subsequent [[Orogeny|uplift of mountains]] in the western [[Mediterranean]] region and a global fall in sea levels combined to cause a temporary drying up of the Mediterranean Sea (known as the [[Messinian salinity crisis]]) near the end of the Miocene.{{sfn|Torsvik|Cocks|2017|p=259, 267, 287}}
The [[Paratethys]] underwent a significant transgression during the early Middle Miocene.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hohenegger |first1=Johann |last2=Roegl |first2=Fred |last3=Coric |first3=Stjepan |last4=Pervesler |first4=Peter |last5=Lirer |first5=Fabrizio |last6=Roetzel |first6=Reinhard |last7=Scholger |first7=Robert |last8=Stingl |first8=Karl |date=January 2009 |title=The Styrian Basin: A key to the Middle Miocene (Badenian/Langhian) Central Paratethys transgressions |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258629954 |journal=Austrian Journal of Earth Sciences |volume=102 |issue=1 |pages=102–132 |access-date=29 January 2023}}</ref> Around 13.8 Ma, during a global sea level drop, the Eastern Paratethys was cut off from the global ocean by the closure of the Bârlad Strait, effectively turning it into a saltwater lake. From 13.8 to 13.36 Ma, an evaporite period similar to the later Messinian salinity crisis in the Mediterranean ensued in the Central Paratethys, cut off from sources of freshwater input by its separation from the Eastern Paratethys. From 13.36 to 12.65 Ma, the Central Paratethys was characterised by open marine conditions, before the reopening of the Bârlad Strait resulted in a shift to brackish-marine conditions in the Central Paratethys, causing the Badenian-Sarmatian Extinction Event. As a result of the Bârlad Strait's reopening, the lake levels of the Eastern Paratethys dropped as it once again became a sea.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Simon |first1=Dirk |last2=Palcu |first2=Dan |last3=Meijer |first3=Paul |last4=Krijgsman |first4=Wout |date=7 December 2018 |title=The sensitivity of middle Miocene paleoenvironments to changing marine gateways in Central Europe |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/geology/article/47/1/35/567589/The-sensitivity-of-middle-Miocene |journal=[[Geology (journal)|Geology]] |volume=47 |issue=1 |pages=35–38 |doi=10.1130/G45698.1 |s2cid=134633409 |access-date=7 January 2023}}</ref>

The [[Fram Strait]] opened during the Miocene and acted as the only throughflow for Atlantic Water into the Arctic Ocean until the [[Quaternary period]]. Due to regional uplift of the continental shelf, this water could not move through the Barents Seaway in the Miocene.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Lasabuda |first1=Amando P. E. |last2=Hanssen |first2=Alfred |last3=Laberg |first3=Jan Sverre |last4=Faleide |first4=Jan Inge |last5=Patton |first5=Henry |last6=Abdelmalak |first6=Mansour M. |last7=Rydningen |first7=Tom Arne |last8=Kjølhamar |first8=Bent |date=29 June 2023 |title=Paleobathymetric reconstructions of the SW Barents Seaway and their implications for Atlantic–Arctic ocean circulation |url=https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-023-00899-y |journal=[[Communications Earth & Environment]] |language=en |volume=4 |issue=1 |page=231 |doi=10.1038/s43247-023-00899-y |bibcode=2023ComEE...4..231L |issn=2662-4435 |access-date=12 October 2023|hdl=10852/102642 |hdl-access=free }}</ref>

The modern day [[Mekong Delta]] took shape after 8 Ma.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Chang |last2=Clift |first2=Peter D. |last3=Murray |first3=Richard W. |last4=Blusztajn |first4=Jerzy |last5=Ireland |first5=Thomas |last6=Wan |first6=Shiming |last7=Ding |first7=Weiwei |date=20 February 2017 |title=Geochemical evidence for initiation of the modern Mekong delta in the southwestern South China Sea after 8Ma |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0009254117300220 |journal=[[Chemical Geology]] |volume=451 |pages=38–54 |doi=10.1016/j.chemgeo.2017.01.008 |bibcode=2017ChGeo.451...38L |issn=0009-2541 |access-date=30 December 2023 |via=Elsevier Science Direct|url-access=subscription }}</ref> [[Geochemistry]] of the Qiongdongnan Basin in the northern [[South China Sea]] indicates the [[Pearl River]] was a major source of sediment flux into the sea during the Early Miocene and was a major fluvial system as in the present.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Ma |first1=Ming |last2=Chen |first2=Guojun |last3=Zhang |first3=Gongcheng |last4=Rahman |first4=M. Julleh Jalalur |last5=Ma |first5=Xiaofeng |date=1 May 2022 |title=Geochemistry and provenance of Oligocene to middle Miocene sandstones in the Qiongdongnan Basin, northern South China Sea |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025322722000652 |journal=[[Marine Geology (journal)|Marine Geology]] |volume=447 |article-number=106794 |doi=10.1016/j.margeo.2022.106794 |bibcode=2022MGeol.44706794M |s2cid=247970013 |issn=0025-3227 |access-date=19 September 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref>