Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- adjective Of, relating to, or being the epoch of geologic time from about 34 to 23 million years ago, the third epoch of the Tertiary Period. It is characterized by further development of modern mammals, including the rise of the true carnivores and their gradual replacement of the creodonts.
- noun The Oligocene Epoch.
from The Century Dictionary.
- In geology, a division of the Tertiary series, including groups formerly classed in part as Upper Eocene and in part as Lower Miocene.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective (Geol.) Of, pertaining to, or designating, certain strata which occupy an intermediate position between the Eocene and Miocene periods.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- adjective geology Of a
geologic epoch within thePaleogene period from about 34 to 23 million years ago; marked by the rapidevolution in awarm climate . - proper noun geology The Oligocene epoch.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun from 40 million to 25 million years ago; appearance of sabertoothed cats
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Oligocene.
Examples
-
This differs chiefly from Lyell's classification in the introduction of the term Oligocene for the upper part of the original Eocene, which was somewhat unwieldy.
The Antiquity of Man Charles Lyell 1836
-
The oldest of these formations dated from the geological time period known as the Oligocene, making them roughly thirty million years old.
The Path Between the Seas DAVID McCULLOUGH. 2005
-
The oldest of these formations dated from the geological time period known as the Oligocene, making them roughly thirty million years old.
The Path Between the Seas DAVID McCULLOUGH. 2005
-
But still later he repeats the assertion of the Eocene ( "Oligocene") age of the Santo Domingo beds in sueh a categorical manner as to demand an equally pointed refutation,! the more especially since Mr. Conrad is the oldest and best infonned of the authorities on the American Tertiaries.
-
More specifically, there are Cretaceous, Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene marine and Oligocene and Plio-Pleistocene nonmarine sedimentary rocks.
-
The Tertiary sedimentary rocks are Eocene, Oligocene, Miocene, and Pliocene.
-
Even the ants and bees have made no advance since the Oligocene.
On Thursday, the Legg report will be published along with... 2009
-
Riversleigh's late Oligocene to early and middle Miocene (possibly 25-12 my) assemblages have been interpreted by Archer et al. (1989) and Archer et al., (1991) to represent rainforest communities.
-
The fine sandy and silty loams are formed from weathered Oligocene and Miocene sandstone (Ogallala and Arikaree Formations, and upper White River Groups).
-
More specifically, there are Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous, Eocene, and Miocene marine and Oligocene and Plio-Pleistocene nonmarine sedimentary rocks.
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.