The first hyperthermals
Short, sharp warming pulses begin appearing in the record — rehearsals for what comes at the boundary.
- When
- —
- Duration
- 3.8 million years
- Known to
- ± 500 thousand years
- Era
- Paleocene, Cenozoic
The Paleogene climate record is punctuated by hyperthermals: geologically brief episodes in which carbon isotopes drop sharply, temperatures rise several degrees, and the deep ocean becomes corrosive to carbonate, all recovering within a few hundred thousand years. The Dan-C2 event in the early Danian and the Latest Danian Event around 62 million years ago are among the first. Each is paced by orbital cycles, which suggests a carbon reservoir near a threshold that orbital forcing can repeatedly tip — the same setup that produces the far larger event to come.