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SANTA CRUZ, CA--Scientists have filled in a key piece of the global climate picture for a period 55 million years ago that is considered one of the most abrupt and extreme episodes of global warming in Earth's history, according to a University ot California, Santa Cruz, professor.
The new results from an analysis of sediment cores from the ocean floor are consistent with theoretical predictions of how Earth's climate would respond to rising concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, says James Zachos, professor of Earth sciences at the university. He led the study and was co-author of the paper. The study was published online by Science Express on October 23 and will appear in a later print edition of Science magazine.
The researchers analyzed sediments deposited on the seafloor during a period known as the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum, when a massive release of heattrapping greenhouse gases is thought to have triggered a runaway process of global warming. Climate theory predicts that the increase in greenhouse gases would have caused temperature to ...