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Assessing the Contributions of Comet Impact and Volcanism Toward the Climate Perturbations of the Paleocene‐Eocene Thermal Maximum
Author(s) -
Liu Zeyang,
Horton Daniel E.,
Tabor Clay,
Sageman Bradley B.,
Percival Lawrence M.E.,
Gill Benjamin C.,
Selby David
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2019gl084818
Subject(s) - volcanism , geology , comet , volcano , isotopes of carbon , excursion , isotope , earth science , paleontology , atmospheric sciences , tectonics , astrobiology , physics , quantum mechanics , political science , law
The Paleocene‐Eocene Thermal Maximum is marked by a prominent negative carbon‐isotope excursion, reflecting the injection of thousands of gigatons of isotopically light carbon into the atmosphere. The sources of the isotopically light carbon remain poorly constrained. Utilizing a multiproxy geochemical analysis (osmium isotopes, mercury, sulfur, and platinum group elements) of two Paleocene‐Eocene boundary records, we present evidence that a comet impact and major volcanic activity likely contributed to the environmental perturbations during the Paleocene‐Eocene interval. Additionally, Earth system model simulations indicate that stratospheric sulfate aerosols, commensurate with the impact magnitude, were likely to have caused transient cooling and reduced precipitation.