Did the short PETM trigger long-lasting changes in terrestrial environments?

The Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) is a well-documented episode of warming where average temperatures increased 5-8 C in both marine and terrestrial settings before returning to pre-PETM values. As a result the PETM is generally thought of as a transient event that is superimposed on a longer-term trend of global change. Nevertheless not all aspects of the climatic-hydrologic-biologic system experienced a transient response to this event. For example, the well-known dispersal of mammals (Artiodactyls, Perrisopdactyls and Primates = APP taxa) at the beginning of the PETM resulted in fundamentally different terrestrial ecosystems dafter the PETM compared to before it. In this case the PETM can be considered not just a transient event, but a triggering, or threshold, event that resulted in long-term biotic change. Here we consider the possibility that the PETM acted as a threshold event for parts of the climatic and hydrologic system as well as the biologic system. A review of terrestrial/fluvial sections from Laramide basins of western North America (Bighorn, Green River, Huerfano/Raton, Piceance Creek, Powder River, San Juan, Tornillo, Uintah, Washakie, Williston, Wind River), reveals a pronounced difference between rocks of Paleocene and of Eocene age. Common differences include absence of lignites/coal beds in the Eocene, and the occurrence of highly oxidized paleosols and relatively fewer organic-rich mudstones compared to the Paleocene. These suggest drier conditions, either a decrease in mean annual precipitation or enhanced seasonal drying. In sections where the PETM can be identified on the basis of biostratigraphic indicators and carbon isotope excursions (Bighorn, Piceance Creek, Powder River and Williston Basins), and where the PETM can be inferred based on carbon isotope data alone (Huerfano/Raton?, Tornillo, Wind River Basins), it is associated with this transition from one long-lasting lithofacies (environment?) to another. This association suggests the PETM was a threshold event that had a long-lasting impact in terrestrial environments of the middle latitudes. In order for this association to exist, some aspect of the climatic/hydrologic ± biologic system must have undergone a unidirectional rather than punctuated change during the PETM, but the exact nature of this change is uncertain. Possibilities include general changes in precipitation patterns in response to changes in Arctic ocean salinity and circulation or to a change in sea level, modification of monsoonal precipitation in response to new vegetation types/distributions, and a change in rates of organic matter oxidation in soils.