Unravelling the PETM record in the Sparnacian facies of NW Europe: new data from the north-eastern Paris Basin

2010

The geological archives record "hyperthermic" crises, along with their consequences on the biota and physical environment. Among these, the PETM (Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum) is considered as the closest analogue to the current climate crisis due to its global character and the speeds at which the CO2 rate and average temperatures increased. Some 55.8 Ma ago (Aubry et al., 2007), it affected the Earth for a period of almost 200,000 years; the terrestrial and marine paleoenvironments were marked by a negative δ13C anomaly (or Carbon Isotopic Excursion, CIE) coinciding with a negative δ18O anomaly indicative of a drastic temperature rise (+ 3 to + 8 °C). The causes envisaged to explain t…