Gomphotherium land bridge

The Gomphotherium land bridge was a land bridge that connected Eurasia to the Arabian Plate approximately 19 Mya (million years ago).[1]

Significance

Passage of fauna between Eurasia and the Arabian Plate was largely hindered before the Early Miocene, as animals could not cross the open Tethyan seaway. However, during the mid-Burdigalian, the tectonic plates of Afro-Arabia and Eurasia collided, creating a terrestrial isthmus connecting the two landmasses. This faunal exchange that resulted is known as the Proboscidean Datum Event.[1] The land bridge allowed the elephantine Gomphotheres to leave Africa.[2]

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References
  1. Harzhauser, Mathias; Kroh, Andreas; Mandic, Oleg; Piller, Werner E.; Göhlich, Ursula; Reuter, Markus; Berning, Björn (2007). "Biogeographic responses to geodynamics: A key study all around the Oligo–Miocene Tethyan Seaway" (PDF). Zoologischer Anzeiger - A Journal of Comparative Zoology. 246 (4): 241–256. doi:10.1016/j.jcz.2007.05.001.
  2. Rögl, F. (1999). "Mediterranean and Paratethys. Facts and hypotheses of an Oligocene to Miocene paleogeography (short overview)" (PDF). Geologica Carpathica. 50 (4): 339–349.


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