COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: An Integrated High-Resolution Study of the Effects of Shifting Climate on Late Paleocene-Early Eocene Continental Ecosystems

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AbstractPrevious research in the Bighorn Basin has provided tantalizing evidence suggesting a relationship between biotic change and shifts in climate at the time of the Paleocene/Eocene boundary and two early Eocene time periods, but poor resolution of critical parts of the record renders the correlation inconclusive. Using a combination of approaches -magnetostratigraphy, physical stratigraphy, paleosols, and mammalian faunas- this project will developed a high- resolution chonostratigraphy and provide the framework for correlating upper Paleocene- lower Eocene sections across the basin, and for establishing whether regional event can be correlated with the marine record. The Bighorn Basin is possibly the best localities globally where sediments recording coeval changes in climate, mammalian faunas, and floras at the Paleocene/Eocene boundary and two early Eocene intervals have been preserved. The proposed work is essential for future research seeking to establish the relationship between biotic and climate changes globally during the early Tertiary interval of Greenhouse conditions.