Sarmatian Stage

Sarmatian Stage

      major division of Miocene rocks and time (23.7 to 5.3 million years ago). The Sarmatian Stage, which occurs between the Pontian and Tortonian stages, was named for Sarmatia, the ancient homeland of the Sarmatian tribes in what is presently southern European Russia, where important exposures are found. During the Miocene, a number of areas in western Europe became emergent, while sizable areas of eastern Europe were submerged by waters cut off from interchange with the oceans; these isolated, inland seas were freshened by the inflow of streams, resulting in the development of a very distinctive, lagoonal-type fossil fauna represented by peculiar species of clams, gastropods, and bryozoans. These animals were present in great abundance but exhibit little variety; almost no other kinds of animals occur. The bryozoans frequently occur in such local abundance that they form reeflike masses. Sarmatian depositional basins fluctuated greatly from extremely salty to brackish.

* * *


Universalium. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Clarendonian Stage — ▪ geology       lowermost and oldest major division of continental rocks and time of the Pliocene in North America (the Pliocene Epoch began about 7,000,000 years ago and lasted about 4,500,000 years). The Clarendonian Stage, which follows the… …   Universalium

  • Iranian languages — Major subgroup of the Indo Iranian branch of the Indo European language family. Iranian languages are probably spoken by more than 80 million people in southwestern and southern Asia. Only two Old Iranian languages are known, Avestan and Old… …   Universalium

  • Slavic peoples — legend|#004040|South SlavicThe Slavic peoples are an ethnic and linguistic branch of Indo European peoples, living mainly in Europe. From the early 6th century they spread from their original homeland (most commonly thought to be in Eastern… …   Wikipedia

  • Stone Age — the period in the history of humankind, preceding the Bronze Age and the Iron Age, and marked by the use of stone implements and weapons: subdivided into the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, and Neolithic periods. [1860 65] * * * First known period of… …   Universalium

  • Early Slavs — The early Slavs were a diverse group of tribal societies in Migration period and early medieval Europe (ca. 5th to 10th centuries) whose tribal organizations indirectly created the foundations for today’s Slavic nations (via the Slavic states of… …   Wikipedia

  • History of Chechnya — The History of Chechnya refers to the history of Chechens, Chechnya, and the land of Ichkeria. Chechen society has traditionally been organized around many autonomous local clans, called taips. The traditional Chechen saying goes that the members …   Wikipedia

  • History of jewellery in Ukraine — Jewellery, as one of the art forms originated together with the human culture as one of its expressions. Body ornamentation, essentially the purpose of jewellery, has been known since at least the Stone Age. At that time adornments were made from …   Wikipedia

  • Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth — Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania[a] ← …   Wikipedia

  • Auxiliaries (Roman military) — Auxiliaries (from Latin: auxilia = supports ) formed the standing non citizen corps of the Roman army of the Principate (30 BC ndash;284 AD), alongside the citizen legions. By the 2nd century, the auxilia contained the same number of infantry as… …   Wikipedia

  • Eastern Iranian languages — Eastern Iranian Geographic distribution: Scythia, Central Asia Linguistic classification: Indo European Indo Iranian Iranian Eastern Iranian …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”