News Release

Climate change and carbon emission in Paleocene

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Foraminifera

image: Foraminifera are captured in the surface ocean by scuba diving. Individual organisms are captured in glass jars at 5-10 meters water depth, and are subsequently brought back to the lab to be incubated in controlled conditions view more 

Credit: Image credit: Laura Haynes

A study of boron/calcium ratios in the shells of marine plankton suggests that the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, a rapid global warming and ocean acidification event 55.6 million years ago that caused extinction in the deep sea and biological turnover, was accompanied by an increase of 14,900 petagrams of carbon in the oceans, likely due to volcanic CO2 emissions; estimates of the rate of CO2 emissions suggest that the carbon release occurred at least 10 times slower than modern CO2 emissions, according to the authors.

Article #20-03197: "The seawater carbon inventory at the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum," by Laura L. Haynes and Bärbel Hönisch.

MEDIA CONTACT: Laura L. Haynes, Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, NY; tel: 919-323-0140; e-mail: lhaynes@vassar.edu

###


Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.