{
  "abstract": "The Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) occurred ~56 million years ago and was characterized by large-scale carbon release and transient warming. Erosion and subsequent burial of terrestrial organic carbon in marine sediments could have sequestered organic carbon during the PETM-stabilizing global carbon and climate systems-yet direct evidence for this process is lacking. Here we present source-specific biomarker records from five globally distributed shallow marine sites and show that vascular plant and soil organic carbon contributed ~40-95% of total organic carbon in coastal sediments during the PETM. This is higher than modern marine sediments (~12-20% of total organic carbon) and indicates greater terrestrial organic carbon delivery to marine environments during warmer climates. We find that terrestrial organic carbon burial fluxes can increase ~10-to-50-fold during the PETM due to enhanced physical erosion and higher coastal sedimentation rates, implying that marine burial of terrestrial organic carbon sequestered excess carbon released during the PETM. Palaeoclimate model simulations do not account for enhanced delivery of terrestrial organic carbon into the marine realm and are thus missing an important carbon sink. Terrestrial organic carbon burial could act as a negative feedback during other hyperthermals and may aid the long-term (>10,000-year) recovery of the Earth system.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK",
    "Geological Institute, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland",
    "School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK",
    "State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China",
    "Leibniz-Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Isotope Research, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany",
    "School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK",
    "Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Earth Sciences and School of Chemistry, Cabot Institute for the Environment, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK",
    "Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA USA",
    "GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany",
    "Department of Earth Sciences and School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK"
  ],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 13,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Gordon N. Inglis",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0032-4668"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        1
      ],
      "name": "Jordon Hemingway",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-8299-2255"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Richard Stockey",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5541-7987"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "Emily H. Hollingsworth",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7067-6837"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Paul J. Valdes",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-1902-3283"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        2,
        3
      ],
      "name": "Alex Farnsworth",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-5585-5338"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Felix J. Elling",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0405-4033"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        5
      ],
      "name": "Marcus P. S. Badger",
      "orcid": "0000-0001-8195-5244"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        4
      ],
      "name": "Xiaoxiao Zhao",
      "orcid": "0009-0002-3928-5990"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        6
      ],
      "name": "Richard David Pancost",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-0298-4026"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        7
      ],
      "name": "Ann Pearson",
      "orcid": "0000-0003-2785-8405"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        8,
        0
      ],
      "name": "Thomas Gernon",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-7717-2092"
    },
    {
      "affs": [
        9
      ],
      "name": "Robert George Hilton",
      "orcid": "0000-0002-0499-3332"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6smdtpqh8qh66.bib",
  "cited_by": 5,
  "doi": "10.1038/s41561-026-02012-2",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "6smdtpqh8qh66",
  "issns": [
    "1752-0894",
    "1752-0908"
  ],
  "landing_url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-026-02012-2",
  "language": "en",
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "journal",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "openalex",
      "1911|Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7164920302",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-026-02012-2.pdf",
  "pmcid": "PMC13447108",
  "pmid": "42568398",
  "published": "2026-06-16",
  "publisher": "Nature Portfolio",
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6smdtpqh8qh66.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-11-05T13:21:09Z",
      "native_id": "W7164920302",
      "source": "openalex",
      "url": "https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-026-02012-2"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "biology",
      "origin": "openalex:1911|Paleontology and Stratigraphy of Fossils",
      "subfield": "evolutionary-biology"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Enhanced marine burial of terrestrial organic carbon through the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum",
  "title_text": "Enhanced marine burial of terrestrial organic carbon through the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum",
  "type": "peer-reviewed",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-09T13:21:19Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/6smdtpqh8qh66",
  "venue": "Nature Geoscience",
  "versions": []
}