Three time lines through the neritic stratigraphic record distributed around the northern margin of the Australo-Antarctic Gulf (AAG) mark three fundamental shifts in global environments collectively comprising the Auversian facies shift. The three lines are: (1) the beginning: the Khirthar transgression and the onset of neritic carbonate accumulation in the Bartonian Age (preceding onset of the Middle Eocene climatic optimum [MECO]); (2) the midlife change (Bartonian-Priabonian transition): the shift from carbonate-rich to carbonate-poor, higher-nutrient environments under estuarine circulation, causing widespread dysaerobia culminating in opaline silicas; and (3) the Eocene-Oligocene = Priabonian-Rupelian boundary and glaciation during oxygen isotope event Oi-1, with...