Episode 103 – The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

The PETM has been called the largest natural climate change event of the Cenozoic Era. It marks the transition from the ecosystems of the Paleocene to the more familiar world of the Eocene and is thus an important step in making the world the way we know it today. But maybe most importantly, it is a dramatic case study in what happens when a huge amount of Carbon injected into the atmosphere triggers rapid warming of global climate … you know, in case anyone needs to know about that.

In the news: pterosaur cousins, oldest pythons, burrowed dinosaurs, and hibernating hominins.

Time markers: Intro & Announcements: 00:00:00News: 00:04:30Main discussion, Part 1: 00:32:30Main discussion, Part 2: 01:03:00 Patron question: 01:36:30

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The Intro and Outro music is “On the Origin of Species” by Protodome. More music like this at http://ocremix.org.

Musical Interludes are "Professor Umlaut" by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/