IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v450y2007i7173d10.1038_nature06400.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • 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
    Present addresses: Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, 1000 Discovery Drive, College Station, Texas 77845, USA (C.M.J.); GNS Science, PO Box 30-368, Lower Hutt, New Zealand (E.M.C.).)

  • 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
    Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ), PO Box 59, 1790 AB, Den Burg, Texel, The Netherlands)

  • Erica M. Crouch

    (Palaeoecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Utrecht University, Laboratory of Palaeobotany and Palynology,
    Present addresses: Integrated Ocean Drilling Program, Texas A&M University, 1000 Discovery Drive, College Station, Texas 77845, USA (C.M.J.); GNS Science, PO Box 30-368, Lower Hutt, New Zealand (E.M.C.).)

  • Gerald R. Dickens

    (Rice University, 6100 Main Street, Houston, Texas 77005, USA)

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.

Suggested Citation

  • 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 & Gerald R. Dickens, 2007. "Environmental precursors to rapid light carbon injection at the Palaeocene/Eocene boundary," Nature, Nature, vol. 450(7173), pages 1218-1221, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:450:y:2007:i:7173:d:10.1038_nature06400
    DOI: 10.1038/nature06400
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06400
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature06400?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mingsong Li & Timothy J. Bralower & Lee R. Kump & Jean M. Self-Trail & James C. Zachos & William D. Rush & Marci M. Robinson, 2022. "Astrochronology of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum on the Atlantic Coastal Plain," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:450:y:2007:i:7173:d:10.1038_nature06400. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.