The Miocene (/ˈmaɪ.əsiːn, -oʊ-/ MY-ə-seen, -oh-) is the first geological epoch of the Neogene Period and extends from about 23.03 to 5.333 million years ago (Ma). The Miocene was named by Scottish geologist Charles Lyell; the name comes from the Greek words μείων (meíōn, "less") and καινός (kainós, "new") and means "less recent" because it has 18% fewer modern marine invertebrates than the Pliocene has.[10] The Miocene is preceded by the Oligocene and is followed by the Pliocene.
As Earth went from the Oligocene through the Miocene and into the Pliocene, the climate slowly cooled towards a series of ice ages.[11][12] The Miocene boundaries are not marked by a single distinct global event but consist rather of regionally defined boundaries between the warmer Oligocene and the cooler Pliocene Epoch.
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