Flow reorganizations in the Panama Seaway: A cause for the demise of Miocene corals?

A large number of coral species in the Caribbean Sea disappeared in the early Miocene. Based on climate model simulations, we propose that this regional extinction is related to a flow reorganization in the Panama Seaway. It is shown that large‐scale tectonic events, such as the opening of Drake Passage and the closing of the Tethys Seaway, reorganized the global ocean currents to induce a reversal of the volume transport between Atlantic and Pacific. This flow reversal, which is timed near the Oligocene‐Miocene boundary, allowed cool Pacific waters to enter the Caribbean Sea possibly affecting the habitat of warm water tolerant coral species.