Comments on: The PETM http://climatesight.org/2012/11/26/the-petm/ Climate science and the public Thu, 20 Jun 2013 02:38:03 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: Ed Davies http://climatesight.org/2012/11/26/the-petm/#comment-15663 Sat, 29 Dec 2012 19:19:01 +0000 http://climatesight.org/?p=2011#comment-15663 From the book details it seems that that Michael Benton book is about the end-Permian extinction. Indeed the biggie, but nearly five times longer ago than the PETM.

]]> By: Ken http://climatesight.org/2012/11/26/the-petm/#comment-15555 Thu, 27 Dec 2012 14:24:07 +0000 http://climatesight.org/?p=2011#comment-15555 If you have time, I recommend the 2005 book by Michael Benton When Life Nearly Died. It is a bit of a scientific detective story about the discovery and then the search for the cause of the mass extinction. A gripping read.

]]> By: CCG Webmaster http://climatesight.org/2012/11/26/the-petm/#comment-15242 Thu, 20 Dec 2012 08:04:45 +0000 http://climatesight.org/?p=2011#comment-15242 I don’t think it’s a given that the methane clathrate (aka methane hydrate) had to melt in order to release large amounts of methane. If I recall correctly the recent research by Shakhova and Semiletov suggests that there are also large amounts of free gas trapped under pressure under the seabed. If the containment was ruptured through either tectonic activity (or conceivably by puncturing the frozen permafrost cap through thawing) it seems possible large amounts of methane (gigatonnes) could be released very abruptly indeed.

Just one of several rather ominous things that appears to be escalating in recent years.

]]> By: climatesight http://climatesight.org/2012/11/26/the-petm/#comment-14684 Fri, 07 Dec 2012 06:20:47 +0000 http://climatesight.org/?p=2011#comment-14684 Under a microscope they have shells similar in appearance to snails. Convergent evolution?

]]> By: Mitchell Porter http://climatesight.org/2012/11/26/the-petm/#comment-14637 Thu, 06 Dec 2012 09:47:54 +0000 http://climatesight.org/?p=2011#comment-14637 “is it weird to have a favourite?”

Mine was the Eocene-Oligocene transition – the beginning of Antarctic glaciation – out of southern-hemisphere patriotism.

]]> By: Martin Vermeer http://climatesight.org/2012/11/26/the-petm/#comment-14612 Wed, 05 Dec 2012 21:25:40 +0000 http://climatesight.org/?p=2011#comment-14612 Yes very nice article. But are foraminifers “snail-like”? I understood they are protozoans… surely not molluscs :-)

]]> By: toby52 http://climatesight.org/2012/11/26/the-petm/#comment-14454 Fri, 30 Nov 2012 17:29:47 +0000 http://climatesight.org/?p=2011#comment-14454 Scientific American did a good article on the PETM last year.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=the-last-great-global-warming

]]> By: Nick Palmer http://climatesight.org/2012/11/26/the-petm/#comment-14408 Wed, 28 Nov 2012 23:14:20 +0000 http://climatesight.org/?p=2011#comment-14408 Thanks. Just trying to tighten up my arguments when fighting denialists.

]]> By: climatesight http://climatesight.org/2012/11/26/the-petm/#comment-14402 Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:27:03 +0000 http://climatesight.org/?p=2011#comment-14402 Maybe you are mixing up Pleistocene and Paleocene?

]]> By: Ed Davies http://climatesight.org/2012/11/26/the-petm/#comment-14392 Wed, 28 Nov 2012 12:41:50 +0000 http://climatesight.org/?p=2011#comment-14392 Ah, thanks. I knew the uplift of the Himalayas was associated by some with the PETM. Maybe I misunderstood/misremembered regarding the cause of the PETM or the cause of the climate progression since.

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