Enhanced marine burial of terrestrial organic carbon through the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum
10 affiliations
- 1School of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK
- 2Geological Institute, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- 3School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- 4State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Environment and Resources, Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
- 5Leibniz-Laboratory for Radiometric Dating and Isotope Research, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, Kiel, Germany
- 6School of Environment, Earth and Ecosystem Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
- 7Organic Geochemistry Unit, School of Earth Sciences and School of Chemistry, Cabot Institute for the Environment, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- 8Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA USA
- 9GFZ Helmholtz Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam, Germany
- 10Department of Earth Sciences and School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
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.
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BibTeX
@article{inglis2026enhanced,
title = {{Enhanced marine burial of terrestrial organic carbon through the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum}},
author = {Gordon N. Inglis and Jordon Hemingway and Richard Stockey and Emily H. Hollingsworth and Paul J. Valdes and Alex Farnsworth and Felix J. Elling and Marcus P. S. Badger and Xiaoxiao Zhao and Richard David Pancost and Ann Pearson and Thomas Gernon and Robert George Hilton},
journal = {Nature Geoscience},
year = {2026},
month = jun,
doi = {10.1038/s41561-026-02012-2},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-026-02012-2},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Enhanced marine burial of terrestrial organic carbon through the Palaeocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum
AU - Gordon N. Inglis
AU - Jordon Hemingway
AU - Richard Stockey
AU - Emily H. Hollingsworth
AU - Paul J. Valdes
AU - Alex Farnsworth
AU - Felix J. Elling
AU - Marcus P. S. Badger
AU - Xiaoxiao Zhao
AU - Richard David Pancost
AU - Ann Pearson
AU - Thomas Gernon
AU - Robert George Hilton
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/06/16
JO - Nature Geoscience
DO - 10.1038/s41561-026-02012-2
UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-026-02012-2
AB - 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.
SN - 1752-0894
SN - 1752-0908
ER -