Earth Collections: Miocene database

The Miocene Epoch extended from 23.0 - 5.3 million years ago.

Miocene fossils are well represented in the Geological Collections, though all are non-UK because the Miocene was a period of non-deposition or active erosion on the UK mainland.

Miocene floras and faunas are diverse and superficially very similar to present-day, though warmer climatic conditions prevailed globally with polar ice-caps much reduced.

The Miocene collections are chiefly marine, with many invertebrates, but holdings also include insects and plants from central European lake deposits, and mammals from North America. In total there are more than 1,100 items catalogued.

Important collections include insects and plants from Oeningen, Switzerland, and the Bour collection, chiefly of marine molluscs.

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Enquiries regarding the collections should be sent to: earth@oum.ox.ac.uk