Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

To: JoeProBono; SunkenCiv
Caption: This painting by artist Carl Buell depcits a scene from the late Eocene of North America.

Late Eocene

Global climate during the Late Eocene was warmer than today. Ice had just begun to form at the South Pole. India was covered by tropical rainforests, and Warm Temperate forests covered much of Austrlia.

Map Legend here



Wikipedia-Eocene

The Eocene Epoch contained a wide variety of different climate conditions that includes the warmest climate in the Cenozoic Era and ends in an icehouse climate. The evolution of the Eocene climate began with warming after the end of the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) at 56 million years ago to a maximum during the Eocene Optimum at around 49 million years ago. During this period of time, little to no ice was present on Earth with a smaller difference in temperature from the equator to the poles. Following the maximum, was a descent into an icehouse climate from the Eocene Optimum to the Eocene-Oligocene transition at 34 million years ago. During this decrease ice began to reappear at the poles, and the Eocene-Oligocene transition is the period of time where the Antarctic ice sheet began to rapidly expand.


I'm not going to obsesses over a degree or two increase during the next century, whether or not it is man made, when we're still about 5C below median or "baseline"...and 12-ish below past maximums...and only 2 or 3C above past minimums.
18 posted on 12/26/2011 8:29:57 PM PST by ApplegateRanch (Islam: A Satanically Transmitted Disease spread by unprotected intimate contact with the Koranus)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies ]


To: ApplegateRanch

Terrific and very useful graphics. Thanks for posting.


20 posted on 12/27/2011 5:24:17 AM PST by 1010RD (First, Do No Harm)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies ]

To: ApplegateRanch; SunkenCiv; All

I wish the article had included a graph showing the 6 episodes of climate/fauna change. I’ll bet one of them was around 34 million years ago. For that one there was definite cause: the great meteors in the Chesapeake and in Russia (Popogai sp?) which left 60 mile diameter craters and killed substantial numbers of animal groups.


21 posted on 12/28/2011 10:29:07 PM PST by gleeaikin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson