Assessing the Contributions of Comet Impact and Volcanism Toward the Climate Perturbations of the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

Abstract

The Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum is marked by a prominent negative carbon-isotope excursion, reflecting the injection of thousands of gigatons of isotopically light carbon into the atmosphere. The sources of the isotopically light carbon remain poorly constrained. Utilizing a multiproxy geochemical analysis (osmium isotopes, mercury, sulfur, and platinum group elements) of two Paleocene-Eocene boundary records, we present evidence that a comet impact and major volcanic activity likely contributed to the environmental perturbations during the Paleocene-Eocene interval. Additionally, Earth system model simulations indicate that stratospheric sulfate aerosols, commensurate with the impact magnitude, were likely to have caused transient cooling and reduced precipitation.