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Rapid carbon injection and transient global warming during the Paleocene-Eocene thermal maximum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 2016

A. Stuijs  and
H. Brinkhuis
A. Stuijs*
Affiliation:
Palaeoecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Utrecht, the Netherlands
H. Brinkhuis
Affiliation:
Palaeoecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology, Utrecht, the Netherlands
*
*Corresponding author. Email:A.Sluijs@uu.nl
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The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM), ~55.5 Myr ago, was a geologically brief (~170 kyr) episode of globally elevated temperatures, which occurred superimposed on the long-term late Paleocene and early Eocene warming trend (Fig. 1). It was marked by a 5 – 8° C warming in both low and high-latitude regions, a perturbation of the hydrological cycle and major biotic response on land and in the oceans, including radiations, extinctions and migrations (see overviews in Bowen et al., 2006; Sluijs et al., 2007a).

Type
Research Article
Information
Netherlands Journal of Geosciences , Volume 87 , Issue 3 , September 2008 , pp. 201 - 206
Copyright
Copyright © Stichting Netherlands Journal of Geosciences 2008

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