Etymology. The term "Eocene" is derived from Ancient Greek eo—eos ἠώς meaning "dawn", and—cene kainos καινός meaning "new" or "recent", as the epoch saw the dawn of recent, or modern, life.

What does the word Eocene mean?

: of, relating to, or being an epoch of the Tertiary between the Paleocene and the Oligocene or the corresponding series of rocks — see Geologic Time Table.

What is the Eocene period?

Eocene Epoch, second of three major worldwide divisions of the Paleogene Period (66 million to 23 million years ago) that began 56 million years ago and ended 33.9 million years ago. It follows the Paleocene Epoch and precedes the Oligocene Epoch.

Why was the Eocene so hot?

Hothouse climates in Earth's geologic past, such as the Eocene epoch, are thought to have been caused by the release of large amounts of carbon dioxide and/or methane, which had been stored as carbon in biogenic gases and organic matter in sediments, to the ocean-atmosphere system.

What animals lived in the Eocene?

Early bats, rabbits, beavers, rats, mice, carnivorous mammals, and whales also evolved during the Eocene Epoch. The earliest Eocene Epoch mammals were all small, but larger species, including the elephant-sized titanothere, evolved toward the end of the epoch.

What is the meaning of the word EOCENE?

41 related questions found

What is the coldest earth has ever gotten?

The Earth's lowest temperature was recorded at the Vostok station operated by Russia, -128.6 degrees, on July 21, 1983. That record stood until a new and colder reading was registered in the interior of Antarctica in August, 2010: -135.8 degrees.

What is Eocene epoch and Eocene primates?

The known fossil families of the Eocene Epoch (56 million to 33.9 million years ago) include the Tarsiidae (tarsiers), the Adapidae (which include probable ancestors of lemurs and lorises), and the Omomyidae (which include possible ancestors of the monkeys and apes).

How long was Miocene epoch?

Miocene Epoch, earliest major worldwide division of the Neogene Period (23 million years to 2.6 million years ago) that extended from 23 million to 5.3 million years ago.

What caused the end of the Eocene period?

The end is set at a major extinction event called the Grande Coupure (the "Great Break" in continuity) or the Eocene–Oligocene extinction event, which may be related to the impact of one or more large bolides in Siberia and in what is now Chesapeake Bay.

Did humans evolve in the Eocene period?

Humans evolved in the Eocene period. ... Humans have impacted the rainforests through mining, agriculture, and construction.

How did the climate in the Eocene compare to that of today?

The Early Eocene period is one period in the geologic past that stands out as distinctly warmer than today, particularly at high latitudes. ... The reconstructed global mean surface temperature for the Early Eocene is 9 to 14°C higher than today.

What does Quaternary mean in history?

Quaternary, in the geologic history of Earth, a unit of time within the Cenozoic Era, beginning 2,588,000 years ago and continuing to the present day. ... These deposits are important for unraveling geologic history because they are most easily compared to modern sedimentary deposits.

What happened in the Paleocene epoch?

The Paleocene Epoch began and ended with two great events: the Cretaceous–Tertiary extinction event and the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum. The continents moved closer to their current positions, dinosaurs were wiped out, and mammals and birds greatly diversified. What a great time in Earth's history!

What did the Earth look like 55 million years ago?

Sometime between 56 and 55 million years ago Earth was being ravaged by extreme floods followed by extreme droughts and massive wildfires. The oceans acidified, dissolving the shells of mollusks and shelled plankton! Mammals shrunk in size. Then, two smaller but similar events took place over the next 3 million years!

What animal did monkeys evolve from?

Monkeys evolved from prosimians during the Oligocene Epoch. Apes evolved from catarrhines in Africa during the Miocene Epoch. Apes are divided into the lesser apes and the greater apes. Hominins include those groups that gave rise to our species, such as Australopithecus and H.

How did Eocene primates differ from Paleocene primates?

(Q012) How did Eocene primates differ from Paleocene primates? Eocene primates had a reduced sense of smell. ... The opossum is also an arboreal mammal but did not develop uniquely primate traits.

What is a Euprimate?

Euprimate is a term used to designate the phylogenetic group composed of all living species and their close relatives when other more primitive mammals, such as plesiadapiforms, are included in the mammalian Order Primates. This phylogenetic group is also referred to as “Primate of Modern Aspect,” or crown primates.

What is the name of the earliest mammal that lived in the Eocene time period?

Many groups of “modern” animals made their first appearance in the eocene. These include the first members of the orders of elephants, bats, whales, even-toed hooved animals (artiodactyls) and the odd-toed perissodactyls. The first horse, Hyracotherium (aka eohippus), appeared in the eocene.

When did Titanotheres go extinct?

Titanothere, any member of an extinct group of large-hoofed mammals that originated in Asia or North America during the early Eocene Epoch (some 50 million years ago). Titanotheres, more properly called “brontotheres,” became extinct during the middle of the Oligocene Epoch (some 28 million years ago).

What was the temperature of Earth like during the early Eocene?

Previous studies have suggested that the polar regions (high-latitude areas) during the Eocene were very hot—greater than 30 degrees centigrade (86 degrees Fahrenheit).

How cold is the ice age?

| AFP. Officially referred to as the “Last Glacial Maximum”, the Ice Age which happened 23,000 to 19,000 years ago witnessed an average global temperature of 7.8 degree Celsius (46 F), which doesn't sound like much, but is indeed very cold for the average temperature of the planet.

How long will it be until the next ice age?

Researchers used data on Earth's orbit to find the historical warm interglacial period that looks most like the current one and from this have predicted that the next ice age would usually begin within 1,500 years.

What was the warmest period on earth?

The Eocene, which occurred between 53 and 49 million years ago, was Earth's warmest temperature period for 100 million years.