Campus Moncloa
Campus of International Excellence
Neogene
23-2,6 M.a.
Erosion caused by Roman mining activities in the Neogene conglomerates has sculpted the landscape of Las Médulas (El Bierzo, León, Spain).
The Alpine orogeny, which began in the Paleogene, continues. The formation of mountain ranges and the distribution of the continents produce a general cooling and the onset of a new ice age that still goes on today. The accumulation of ice on the polar caps causes a decline in sea level and allows the formation of land bridges between continental masses. This facilitates the migration of terrestrial organisms and modifies the ocean currents even more. This happens repeatedly in today’s Isthmus of Panama.
El clima más frío y más seco, junto a la expansión de las plantas herbáceas, principalmente las gramíneas, dan lugar a paisajes más abiertos: muchos bosques y selvas dan paso a desiertos, praderas, estepas, sabanas y tundras.
These changes promote the proliferation of large herbivore fauna (giraffes, mastodons, bison), as well as predators (cats, dogs, ursids) and cold-region mammals (mammoths).
Reproduction of the Somosaguas Site (Madrid, Spain).
| Hadean | ~4600-4000 M.a. |
| Archean | 4000-2500 M.a. |
| Proterozoic | 2500-541 M.a. |
| Cambrian | 541-485 M.a. |
| Ordovician | 485-443 M.a. |
| Silurian | 443-419 M.a. |
| Devonian | 419-359 M.a. |
| Carboniferous | 359-299 M.a. |
| Permian | 299-252 M.a. |
| Triassic | 252-201 M.a. |
| Jurassic | 201-145 M.a. |
| Cretaceous | 145-66 M.a. |
| Paleogene | 66-23 M.a. |
| Neogene | 23-2,6 M.a. |
| Quaternary | 2,6 M.a.-act. |
