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Formation of the Isthmus of Panama
Author
O'Dea, AaronLessios, Harilaos A.
Coates, Anthony G.
Eytan, Ron I.
Restrepo-Moreno, Sergio A.
Cione, Alberto L.
Collins, Laurel S.
de Queiroz, Alan
Farris, David W.
Norris, Richard D.
Stallard, Robert F.
Woodburne, Michael O.
Aguilera, Orangel
Aubry, Marie-Pierre
Berggren, William A.
Budd, Ann F.
Cozzuol, Mario A.
Coppard, Simon E.
Duque-Caro, Herman
Finnegan, Seth
Gasparini, German M.
Grossman, Ethan L.
Johnson, Kenneth G.
Keigwin, Lloyd D.
Knowlton, Nancy
Leigh, Egbert G.
Leonard-Pingel, Jill S.
Marko, Peter B.
Pyenson, Nicholas D.
Rachello-Dolmen, Paola G.
Soibelzon, Esteban
Soibelzon, Leopoldo
Todd, Jonathan A.
Vermeij, Geerat J.
Jackson, Jeremy B. C.
Date
2016Type
ArticleAbstract
The formation of the Isthmus of Panama stands as one of the greatest natural events of the Cenozoic, driving profound biotic transformations on land and in the oceans. Some recent studies suggest that the Isthmus formed many millions of years earlier than the widely recognized age of approximately 3 million years ago (Ma), a result that if true would revolutionize our understanding of environmental, ecological, and evolutionary change across the Americas. To bring clarity to the question of when the Isthmus of Panama formed, we provide an exhaustive review and reanalysis of geological, paleontological, and molecular records. These independent lines of evidence converge upon a cohesive narrative of gradually emerging land and constricting seaways, with formation of the Isthmus of Panama sensu stricto around 2.8 Ma. The evidence used to support an older isthmus is inconclusive, and we caution against the uncritical acceptance of an isthmus before the Pliocene.
Permanent link
http://hdl.handle.net/11714/6103Additional Information
Journal Title | Science Advances |
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Rights | Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International |
Rights Holder | Authors |