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Abrupt increase in seasonal extreme precipitation at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary

¹ Department of Geology, University of Lund, Sölvegatan 12, SE-22362 Lund, Sweden
² Department of Stratigraphy and Paleontology, University of the Basque Country, Ap. 644, 48080 Bilbao, Spain

A prominent increase in atmospheric CO₂ at the Paleocene-Eocene boundary, ca. 55 Ma, led to the warmest Earth of the Cenozoic for 100 k.y. High-resolution studies of continental flood-plain sediment records across this boundary can provide crucial information on how the hydrological cycle responds to rapidly changing CO₂. Here we show from continental records across the Paleocene-Eocene boundary in the Spanish Pyrenees, a subtropical paleosetting, that during the early, most intense phase of CO₂ rise, normal, semiarid coastal plains with few river channels of 10-200 m width were abruptly replaced by a vast conglomeratic braid plain, covering at least 500 km² and most likely more than 2000 km². This braid plain is interpreted as the proximal parts of a megafan. Carbonate nodules in the megafan deposits attest to seasonally dry periods and together with megafan development imply a dramatic increase in seasonal rain and an increased intra-annual humidity gradient. The megafan formed over a few thousand years to 10 k.y. directly after the Paleocene-Eocene boundary. Only repeated severe floods and rainstorms could have contributed the water energy required to transport the enormous amounts of large boulders and gravel of the megafan during this short time span. The findings represent evidence for considerable changes in regional hydrological cycles following greenhouse gas emissions.

Key Words: Paleocene-Eocene boundary • fluvial megafan • greenhouse warming • hydrological cycle • carbon isotope excursion

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