Editing Pliocene (section)

==Paleogeography==
[[File:Great American Biotic Interchange examples.svg|upright|thumb|Examples of migrant species in the Americas after the formation of the Isthmus of Panama. Olive green silhouettes denote North American species with South American ancestors; blue silhouettes denote South American species of North American origin.]]
Continents continued to [[plate tectonics|drift]], moving from positions possibly as far as 250&nbsp;km from their present locations to positions only 70&nbsp;km from their current locations. [[South America]] became linked to North America through the [[Isthmus of Panama]] during the Pliocene, making possible the [[Great American Interchange]] and bringing a nearly complete end to South America's distinctive [[Meridiungulata|native ungulate]] fauna,<ref>{{cite journal |jstor=2400869 |title=Ecogeography and the Great American Interchange |last1=Webb |first1=S. David |journal=[[Paleobiology (journal)|Paleobiology]] |year=1991 |volume=17 |issue=3 |pages=266–280 |doi=10.1017/S0094837300010605 |bibcode=1991Pbio...17..266W |s2cid=88305955 }}</ref> though other South American lineages like its [[Sparassodonta|predatory mammals]] were already extinct by this point and others like [[xenarthra]]ns continued to do well afterwards. The formation of the Isthmus had major consequences on global temperatures, since warm equatorial ocean currents were cut off and an Atlantic cooling cycle began, with cold Arctic and Antarctic waters decreasing temperatures in the now-separated Atlantic Ocean.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bartoli |first1=G. |last2=Sarnthein |first2=M. |last3=Weinelt |first3=M. |last4=Erlenkeuser |first4=H. |last5=Garbe-Schönberg |first5=D. |last6=Lea |first6=D.W. |title=Final closure of Panama and the onset of northern hemisphere glaciation |journal=[[Earth and Planetary Science Letters]] |date=August 2005 |volume=237 |issue=1–2 |pages=33–44 |doi=10.1016/j.epsl.2005.06.020|bibcode=2005E&PSL.237...33B |doi-access=free }}</ref>

[[Africa]]'s collision with [[Europe]] formed the [[Mediterranean Sea]], cutting off the remnants of the [[Tethys Ocean]]. The border between the Miocene and the Pliocene is also the time of the [[Messinian salinity crisis]].<ref>Gautier, F., Clauzon, G., Suc, J.P., Cravatte, J., Violanti, D., 1994. Age and duration of the Messinian salinity crisis. C.R. Acad. Sci., Paris (IIA) 318, 1103–1109.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Krijgsman |first1=W |title=A new chronology for the middle to late Miocene continental record in Spain |journal=[[Earth and Planetary Science Letters]] |date=August 1996 |volume=142 |issue=3–4 |pages=367–380 |doi=10.1016/0012-821X(96)00109-4 |bibcode=1996E&PSL.142..367K |url=http://doc.rero.ch/record/13400/files/PAL_E203.pdf}}</ref>

During the Late Pliocene, the Himalayas became less active in their uplift, as evidenced by sedimentation changes in the [[Bengal Fan]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Chang |first1=Zihan |last2=Zhou |first2=Liping |date=December 2019 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1367912019303608 |title=Evidence for provenance change in deep sea sediments of the Bengal Fan: A 7 million year record from IODP U1444A |journal=[[Journal of Asian Earth Sciences]] |volume=186 |issue= |pages= |doi=10.1016/j.jseaes.2019.104008 |bibcode=2019JAESc.18604008C |s2cid=202902163 |access-date=6 July 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The [[land bridge]] between [[Alaska]] and [[Siberia]] ([[Beringia]]) was first flooded near the start of the Pliocene, allowing marine organisms to spread between the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. The bridge would continue to be periodically flooded and restored thereafter.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gladenkov |first1=Andrey Yu |last2=Oleinik |first2=Anton E |last3=Marincovich |first3=Louie |last4=Barinov |first4=Konstantin B |title=A refined age for the earliest opening of Bering Strait |journal=[[Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology]] |date=July 2002 |volume=183 |issue=3–4 |pages=321–328 |doi=10.1016/S0031-0182(02)00249-3 |bibcode=2002PPP...183..321G |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0031018202002493 |access-date=6 July 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Pliocene marine formations are exposed in northeast [[Spain]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gibert |first1=Jordi Maria de |last2=Martinell |first2=Jordi |title=Sedimentary substrate andtrace fossil assemblages in marine Pliocene deposits in Northeast Spain |journal=[[Geobios]] |date=January 1995 |volume=28 |pages=197–206 |doi=10.1016/S0016-6995(95)80166-9|bibcode=1995Geobi..28R.197G }}</ref> southern [[California]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=Deméré |first1=Thomas A. |chapter=The Neogene San Diego basin: a review of the marine Pliocene San Diego formation |title=Cenozoic Marine Sedimentation, Pacific Margin |publisher=Pacific Section,m Society for Sedimentary Geology |year=1983 |pages=187–195 |url=https://archives.datapages.com/data/pac_sepm/044/044001/pdfs/187.htm |access-date=7 June 2021}}</ref> [[New Zealand]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Saul |first1=G. |last2=Naish |first2=T.R. |last3=Abbott |first3=S.T. |last4=Carter |first4=R.M. |title=Sedimentary cyclicity in the marine Pliocene-Pleistocene of the Wanganui basin (New Zealand): Sequence stratigraphic motifs characteristic of the past 2.5 m.y. |url=https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/gsa/gsabulletin/article-abstract/111/4/524/183471/Sedimentary-cyclicity-in-the-marine-Pliocene?redirectedFrom=fulltext |journal=[[Geological Society of America Bulletin]] |date=1 April 1999 |volume=111 |issue=4 |pages=524–537 |doi=10.1130/0016-7606(1999)111<0524:SCITMP>2.3.CO;2 |bibcode=1999GSAB..111..524S |access-date=6 July 2023|url-access=subscription }}</ref> and [[Italy]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Selli |first1=Raimondo |title=The Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary in Italian marine sections and its relationship to continental stratigraphies |journal=Progress in Oceanography |date=September 1965 |volume=4 |pages=67–86 |doi=10.1016/0079-6611(65)90041-8|bibcode=1965PrOce...4...67S }}</ref>

During the Pliocene parts of southern Norway and southern Sweden that had been near sea level rose. In Norway this rise elevated the [[Hardangervidda|Hardangervidda plateau]] to 1200 m in the Early Pliocene.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Japsen |first1=Peter |last2=Green |first2=Paul F. |last3=Chalmers |first3=James A.|last4=Bonow |first4=Johan M.|date=17 May 2018 |title=Mountains of southernmost Norway: uplifted Miocene peneplains and re-exposed Mesozoic surfaces |url=http://jgs.lyellcollection.org/content/early/2018/04/30/jgs2017-157 |journal=Journal of the Geological Society |volume= 175|issue= 5|pages= 721–741|doi=10.1144/jgs2017-157 |bibcode=2018JGSoc.175..721J |s2cid=134575021 }}</ref> In Southern Sweden similar movements elevated the [[South Swedish highlands]] leading to a deflection of the ancient [[Eridanos (geology)|Eridanos river]] from its original path across south-central Sweden into a course south of Sweden.<ref name=Karna2017>{{cite journal |last1=Lidmar-Bergström |first1=Karna |last2=Olvmo |first2=Mats|last3=Bonow |first3=Johan M. |author-link=Karna Lidmar-Bergström|date=2017 |title=The South Swedish Dome: a key structure for identification of peneplains and conclusions on Phanerozoic tectonics of an ancient shield |journal=[[GFF (journal)|GFF]] |volume= 139|issue= 4|pages= 244–259|doi= 10.1080/11035897.2017.1364293|bibcode=2017GFF...139..244L |s2cid=134300755 |url=http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-31508 }}</ref>