Monsoonal climates at low latitudes (<32 °N)

We present a Paleocene-Eocene (ca. 60-52 Ma) sea-surface temperature record from sediments deposited in the epicontinental West Siberian Sea. TEX 86 paleothermometry indicates long-term late Paleocene (~17 °C ca. 59 Ma) to early Eocene (26 °C at 52 Ma) sea-surface warming, consistent with trends previously observed for the Southern Ocean and deep oceans. Photic zone and seafloor anoxia developed as temperatures rose by 7 °C to ~27 °C during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM). Based on paired palynological and TEX 86 data, we suggest that the minimum temperature for the proliferation of Paleocene and early Eocene members of the dinoflagellate family Wetzelielloideae, which includes the PETM marker taxon Apectodinium, was ~20 °C.

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The complex paleobotanical investigations carried out in the Maoming sedimentary basin (Guangdong Province, South China) yielded first data on the taxonomic composition and ecological prop erties of two large paleofloras from the Youganwo and Huangniuling formations. The palynomorph assem blages from these formations indicate their middle-late Eocene age (Lutetian-Bartonian and Priabonian for the former and latter, respectively). It is shown that sediments of the Youganwo Formation were deposited in an intermittently swamped lacustrine-fluvial plain, which gave way to a freshwater lake. Vegetation of this period was represented by wet subtropical forests with evergreen Fagaceae, Lauraceae, and Palmae. The Hua ngniuling flora reflects the biome of seasonal tropical forests developed in a broad fluvial plain and its margins. The Eocene floras of the Maoming Basin are marked by the appearance of several recent plant genera, which is also evident from finds of remains of their reproductive structures. The Eocene flora from low latitudes of South China exhibits a notable share of floral elements from middle and high latitudes of East Asia.

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