The early Burdigalian (MN3) plant assemblage of the Güvem area (northwestern Central Anatolia) is preserved in lacustrine sediments of the Dereköy pyroclastics. Its age is well constrained by radiometric dates of basaltic rocks bracketing the pyroclastics, making the Güvem flora one of the extremely few precisely dated early Miocene floras in the Mediterranean region. The rich assemblage of impression fossils comprises ferns and fern allies (2 species), gymnosperms (12 spp.) and angiosperms (129 spp.).Ilex miodipyrenasp. nov. is described as a new fossil-species. The most diverse families in the assemblage are the Fagaceae with 12 taxa and the Fabaceae with 12 leaf morphotypes and one fruit taxon. Aquatic plants are represented by seven taxa, riparian (including palms) and swamp forest elements by >35 taxa, and lianas by three taxa (Smilaxspp.,Chaneya). The relatively large number of aquatic and riparian/swamp elements is congruent with the rich fish, amphibian and reptile record of the Güvem area. Another characteristic feature of the plant assemblage is the presence of various lobed leaves which show similarities with modern species of different families (e.g.Alangium, various Malvales). Trees and shrubs growing on well-drained soils and forming closed-canopy and open-canopy forests are the most diversified group (>70 taxa). In terms of number of specimens in the collection and based on field observations, by far the most abundant leaf fossils belong to evergreen oaks ofQuercus drymejaandQ. mediterraneaand to various types of foliage that cannot be assigned to a particular extant or extinct genus of Fagaceae. These sclerophyllous trees must have covered vast areas surrounding the wetlands that developed during the early Miocene in the Güvem Basin. Based on a recent reassessment of the ecology and taxonomic affinity of these trees, they are considered to reflect humid temperate climatic conditions but with a brief drier season during the winter months. These forests are more similar to the laurel forests of the southeastern United States and those stretching in a narrow belt south of the Himalayas to eastern central China. The large number of Fabaceae may indicate the presence of warm subtropical environments but this is difficult to assess, as they are known for having wide ecological ranges today and in the past. All in all, a larger part of the plant taxa point to forested vegetation. This is in agreement with previous palynological studies which detected only small amounts of herbaceous and grass pollen. Open patches of vegetation may have been restricted to river banks and to rocky areas in a volcanic landscape. The biogeographic patterns detected for the early Miocene of the Güvem assemblage are manifold; most taxa are widespread Northern Hemispheric elements. A substantial part of the species migrated from Asia into Europe during the (late) Paleogene and reached Anatolia during the early Miocene (Fagus,Paliurus,Chaneya,Ailanthus,Quercus kubinyii,Davallia haidingeri,Acer angustilobum,A. palaeosaccharinum). Fewer taxa may have been in Anatolia before they migrated to Europe (e.g.Nerium,Smilax miohavanensis,Quercus sosnowskyi). Finally, very few taxa are Anatolian endemics (e.g.Ilex miodipyrena).

Terrestrial fossil records from the SW Anatolian basins are crucial both for regional correlations and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. By reassessing biostratigraphic constraints and incorporating new fossil data, we calibrated and reconstructed the late Neogene and Quaternary palaeoenvironments within a regional palaeogeographical framework. The culmination of the Taurides in SW Anatolia was followed by a regional crustal extension from the late Tortonian onwards that created a broad array of NE-trending orogen-top basins with synchronic associations of alluvial fan, fluvial and lacustrine deposits. The terrestrial basins are superimposed on the upper Burdigalian marine units with a c. 7 myr of hiatus that corresponds to a shift from regional shortening to extension. The initial infill of these basins is documented by a transition from marginal alluvial fans and axial fluvial systems into central shallow-perennial lakes coinciding with a climatic shift from warm/humid to arid conditions. The basal alluvial fan deposits abound in fossil macro-mammals of an early Turolian (MN11–12; late Tortonian) age. The Pliocene epoch in the region was punctuated by subhumid/humid conditions resulting in a rise of local base levels and expansion of lakes as evidenced by marsh-swamp deposits containing diverse fossil mammal assemblages indicating late Ruscinian (late MN15; late Zanclean) age. A second pulse of extension, accompanied by regional climatic changes, prompted subsequent deepening of the lakes as manifested by thick and laterally extensive carbonate successions. These lakes, which prevailed c. 1 myr, later shrank due to renewed progradation of alluvial fans and eventually filled up and dried out, reflected by marsh-swamp deposits at the top of a complete lacustrine succession that contains diverse micro-mammal assemblages indicating a latest Villanyian (MN17; Gelasian) age. A third pulse of tectonic reorganisation and associated extension dissected the basins into their present-day configuration from the early Pleistocene onwards under warm/humid climatic conditions. The new age data provide means to correlate deposits across various basins in the region that help to place the basin development into a regional tectonic framework, which can be attributed to the consequence of the well-articulated regional phenomena of slab-tear/detachment-induced uplift followed by crustal extension and basin formation (late Tortonian), the outward extension of the Aegean arc (early Pliocene) and eventually accompanied by westward extrusion of the Anatolian Plate (early Pleistocene).

• Premise of the study: The early Cenozoic was a key period of evolutionary radiation in Fagaceae. The common notion is that species thriving in the modern summer‐dry climate of California originated in climates with ample summer rain during the Paleogene.• Methods: We investigated in situ and dispersed pollen of Fagaceae from the uppermost Eocene Florissant fossil beds, Colorado, United States, using a combined light and scanning electron microscopy approach.• Key results: Pollen types of Castaneoideae with affinities to modern Castanea, Lithocarpus, and Castanopsis were recognized. Pollen of the extinct genus Fagopsis represents a derived type of Castaneoideae pollen. Infrageneric groups of Quercus were well represented, including pollen of Group Protobalanus. The taxonomic diversity of Fagaceae and of the total plant assemblage indicates a mosaic of microclimates, that range from pronounced to weakly seasonal climates and depend on slope aspect and elevation. Continental climatic conditions may have triggered the evolution of sclerophyllous leaves and adaptive radiation in Quercus and other taxa thriving today under distinctly summer‐dry and winter‐dry climates.• Conclusions: Vegetation types similar to modern vegetation belts of the Coastal Ranges (chaparral, nemoral conifer forest) were established in the Front Range in the late Eocene. Coeval plant assemblages from the Coastal Ranges of California indicate distinctly subtropical, moist climates. Hence, characteristic elements found today in the summer‐dry and winter‐dry climates of Pacific North America (Quercus Group Protobalanus, Notholithocarpus) may opportunistically have dispersed into their modern ranges later in the Cenozoic. This scenario is in contrast to the evolution and migration patterns of their western Eurasian Mediterranean counterparts (Quercus Group Ilex).