Alain Préat, Université Libre de Bruxelles (Professor Emeritus),

Albert Jacobs, Independent, P.Geo

Author Note
In case of quotation, please mention A. Préat and A. Jacobs “Hyperthermal events of the Tertiary:
precursors of the current situation » French original in “Science, Climat, Energie” (SCE),
http://www.science-climat-energie.be/2019/04/27/evenements-hyperthermiques-du-tertiaireprecurseurs-de-la-situation-actuelle/

Abstract
The focus of this study is based on a detailed analysis of the hyperthermal events of the
Paleocene / Eocene limit of 56 Ma and the lower Eocene (for the 54-52 Ma interval, Figure 1).
This example will show that the Earth has experienced many times much higher temperatures
than today, with warmer, sometimes more acidic oceans and an atmosphere much richer in CO2
(or CH4) than the current one. Are these past events precursors of the current situation?

Introduction
The purpose of this article is to show the complexity of climatology (current and past)
and that ‘science is far from settled’. As for the current climatology, there are many articles,
some of them on SCE. For the climatology of the past the geological examples are not lacking
(including some general articles on SCE, here). The focus is based on a detailed analysis of the
hyperthermal events of the Paleocene / Eocene limit of 56 Ma and the lower Eocene (for the 54-
52 Ma interval, Figure 1). This example will show that the Earth has experienced many times
much higher temperatures than today, with warmer, sometimes more acidic oceans and an
atmosphere much richer in CO2 (or CH4) than the current one. This never prevented life from
developing, and during one of these Tertiary hyperthermal events (or PETM, see below), which
was one of the hottest that the Earth has known, it is an ’irony of fate’ that mammals have
pursued an unprecedented evolutionary radiation (= diversification of species), begun after the
extinction of dinosaurs at the Cretaceous / Tertiary boundary [1, 2].

LINK TO PAPER:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3389926

LINK TO SCE:

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