ABRUPT DEEP-SEA WARMING, PALAEOCEANOGRAPHIC CHANGES AND BENTHIC EXTINCTIONS AT THE END OF THE PALEOCENE

A remarkable oxygen and carbon isotope excursion occurred in Antarctic waters near the end of the Palaeocene (approximately 57.33 Myr ago), indicating rapid global warming and oceanographic changes that caused one of the largest deep-sea benthic extinctions of the past 90 million years. In contrast, the oceanic plankton were largely unaffected, implying a decoupling of the deep and shallow ecosystems. The data suggest that for a few thousand years, ocean circulation underwent fundamental changes producing a transient state that, although brief, had long-term effects on environmental and biotic evolution.