Environmental precursors to rapid light carbon injection at the Palaeocene/Eocene boundary

Appy Sluijs (), Henk Brinkhuis, Stefan Schouten, Steven M. Bohaty, Cédric M. John, James C. Zachos, Gert-Jan Reichart, Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté, Erica M. Crouch and Gerald R. Dickens
Additional contact information
Appy Sluijs: Palaeoecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology,
Henk Brinkhuis: Palaeoecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology,
Stefan Schouten: Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), PO Box 59, 1790 AB, Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands
Steven M. Bohaty: University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA
Cédric M. John: University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA
James C. Zachos: University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California 95060, USA
Gert-Jan Reichart: Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD Utrecht, The Netherlands
Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté: Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD Utrecht, The Netherlands
Erica M. Crouch: Palaeoecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology,
Gerald R. Dickens: Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005, USA

Nature, 2007, vol. 450, issue 7173, 1218-1221

Abstract: Early warming signs The Palaeocene/Eocene thermal maximum — a period of intense global warming about 55 million years ago — was associated with a massive release of isotopically distinctive greenhouse gases into the ocean-atmosphere system. It remains unclear, however, whether this input caused or resulted from the global warming and environmental change that characterize the event. Sluijs et al. use high-resolution records of environmental change across the Palaeocene/Eocene boundary from two sediment sections in New Jersey to shed light on this question. They find that the onset of environmental change and surface-ocean warming preceded the input of greenhouse gases by several thousand years at this location. This sequence of events is consistent with the proposal that deep-ocean warming caused the dissociation of submarine gas hydrates, releasing massive amounts of the greenhouse gas methane. But the cause of the early warming remains uncertain.

Date: 2007
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DOI: 10.1038/nature06400

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