The Miocene is the first geological epoch of the Neogene period. "Miocene" means "less new" or "less recent" because this epoch has fewer modern sea invertebrates than the succeeding Pliocene. Earth cooled into a series of ice ages through the Oligocene, Miocene and Pliocene epochs.
In the Miocene, apes arose, diversified and spread. Ancestors of human beings split from ancestors of chimpanzees. Grasslands continued to spread and forests to recede. Plants and animals were fairly modern.
Wikipedia states that the Miocene boundaries are not marked by any distinct global events because this epoch comprises a stage between the warmer Oligocene and the cooler Pliocene. However, Time Patrol informs us that the inflow from the Atlantic into the Mediterranean basin:
"...would move the planet from its Miocene to its Pliocene epoch." (p. 119)
The Patrol maintains a small base for about a hundred years in southern Iberia in order to study and experience the inflow.
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