Neogene

The Neogene is the geological period from 23.04 to 2.58 million years ago in the consulted chart. It contains the Miocene and Pliocene, between the Palaeogene and Quaternary.^[ref]

The Pliocene is the younger Neogene epoch, approximately $5.333$ to $2.58$ million years ago.^[ref] It is included in the long marine oxygen isotope ratio stack used to compare earlier ocean conditions with those of the Pleistocene. Aligning records makes their temporal patterns comparable; it does not turn one isotope measurement into a unique independent temperature measurement.^[ref]

The Miocene is the older Neogene epoch, approximately $23.04$ to $5.333$ million years ago.^[ref] Dating a rock to this interval places it before the Pliocene; interpreting the environment in which it formed additionally requires observations such as sedimentary rock structure, composition and fossils. An age label and an environmental reconstruction answer different questions.