Fossil Mammals of Asia: Neogene Biostratigraphy and Chronology
Mikael Fortelius, Xiaoming Wang, and Lawrence Flynn
Abstract
This book is devoted to the late Cenozoic (Neogene) mammalian biostratigraphy and geochronology of Asia. It employs cutting-edge biostratigraphic and geochemical dating methods to map the emergence of mammals across the continent. Written by specialists working in a variety of Asian regions, it uses data from fossil records to establish a geochronological framework for the evolution of land mammals. It shows how Asia's violent tectonic history has resulted in some of the world's most varied topography, and shows how the region's high mountain ranges and intense monsoon climates have spawned wi ... More
This book is devoted to the late Cenozoic (Neogene) mammalian biostratigraphy and geochronology of Asia. It employs cutting-edge biostratigraphic and geochemical dating methods to map the emergence of mammals across the continent. Written by specialists working in a variety of Asian regions, it uses data from fossil records to establish a geochronological framework for the evolution of land mammals. It shows how Asia's violent tectonic history has resulted in some of the world's most varied topography, and shows how the region's high mountain ranges and intense monsoon climates have spawned widely diverse environments over time. It describes how these geologic conditions profoundly influenced the evolution of Asian mammals and their migration into Europe, Africa, and North America. The book focuses on new fossil finds that have redefined Asia's role in mammalian evolution, and synthesizes information from a range of field studies on Asian mammals and biostratigraphy. In this way, it traces the histories and movements of extinct and extant mammals from various major groups and all northern continents, and provides geologists with a richer understanding of a variety of Asian terrains.
Keywords:
fossils,
Cenozoic period,
biostratigraphy,
Neogene,
geochronology,
land mammals,
evolution,
tectonic history,
Asia,
migration
Bibliographic Information
Print publication date: 2013 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780231150125 |
Published to Columbia Scholarship Online: November 2015 |
DOI:10.7312/columbia/9780231150125.001.0001 |