Approximately 55.5 Ma ago in marine and terrestrial sections all around the globe, there was an exceptionally large carbon isotope (δ 13C) excursion (CIE) which is unique in the Tertiary for its size and rapidity of its onset. This event, which was first recognized in multiple cores by Kennett and Stott (1991), is contemporaneous with a significant warm anomaly (and oxygen isotope anomaly) and has thus been named the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) (Figure P8). Due to the singular nature of this perturbation and the ecological, faunal and physical gradients across it, the base of this event is now used to define the boundary of the Paleocene-Eocene transition. The previous definition of the P/E boundary was significantly later (at the base of the Ypresian section in Europe), and thus placed the CIE in the late Paleocene. Previously authors had therefore referred to this event as the Late (or Latest) Paleocene Thermal Maximum (LPTM). Some authors have since referred to it as...
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Schmidt, G.A. (2009). Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum. In: Gornitz, V. (eds) Encyclopedia of Paleoclimatology and Ancient Environments. Encyclopedia of Earth Sciences Series. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-4411-3_168
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