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Palaeocene
Palaeocene The first epoch of the Cenozoic era, the Palaeocene (also spelt Paleocene) was distinguished by Wilhelm Schimper in 1874. It spans the time from the end of the Cretaceous (65 Ma) to the beginning of the Eocene (54 Ma). Like the other Cenozoic epochs, it was based on a type section in France. There are two stages, a basal Danian and an upper Thanetian/Selandian (two different facies-types).
At the inception of the Cenozoic, Laurasia, like its southern counterpart Gondwanaland, began to split apart. Ocean-floor spreading began to expand the North Atlantic northwards, with a new gulf extending from near Gibraltar to the vicinity of present-day Newfoundland. Canada and Greenland were meanwhile still attached to Europe. Africa and Arabia were joined but Madagascar had separated. India had yet to make contact with the southern margin of Asia. A warm climate prevailed everywhere, with more precipitation over the land than there had been in Cretaceous times. Antarctica had not yet reached its fully polar position and was only just beginning to exert a cooling influence upon the southern hemisphere. The Palaeocene biota, both marine and terrestrial, contrasted sharply with that of the Cretaceous. In the seas, only the gastropods and bivalvia remained common among the bottom-dwelling mollusca; some nautiloids persisted but the ammonoids were not extinct. On land, new orders of plants, including the grasses and other modern types, flourished, but the deciduous forests were of low diversity. The spread of vegetation over an increasing part of the land surface now took place, assisted by the amelioration of the climate as Pangaea fragmented and new seas came into being. In their turn, the new forests and grasslands constituted habitats, and in the absence of the large reptiles that had been so active in the Mesozoic era, the mammals became the dominant tetrapods, spreading rapidly far and wide and evolving many large species. The contrast between the communities of very small Cretaceous mammals and the new Palaeocene faunas of large—even gigantic—mammals is very striking. South American mammal faunas included prolific numbers of marsupials. Elsewhere the ‘archaic’ orders of mammals reached prominence, and were not to disappear until Miocene times. D. L. Dineley Bibliography Savage, R. J. G. and and Long, M. R. (1986) Mammal evolution, an illustrated guide. British Museum (Natural History), London. |
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PAUL HANCOCK and BRIAN J. SKINNER. "Palaeocene." The Oxford Companion to the Earth. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. PAUL HANCOCK and BRIAN J. SKINNER. "Palaeocene." The Oxford Companion to the Earth. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O112-Palaeocene.html PAUL HANCOCK and BRIAN J. SKINNER. "Palaeocene." The Oxford Companion to the Earth. 2000. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O112-Palaeocene.html |
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Palaeocene
Palaeocene The earliest geological epoch of the Tertiary period. It began about 65 million years ago, following the Cretaceous period, and extended for about 11.1 million years to the beginning of the Eocene (the Palaeocene is sometimes included in the Eocene). It was named by the palaeobotanist W. P. Schimper in 1874. A major floral and faunal discontinuity occurred between the end of the Cretaceous and the beginning of the Palaeocene: following the extinction of many reptiles the mammals became abundant on land. By the end of the epoch primates and rodents had evolved.
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"Palaeocene." A Dictionary of Biology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Palaeocene." A Dictionary of Biology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O6-Palaeocene.html "Palaeocene." A Dictionary of Biology. 2004. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O6-Palaeocene.html |
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Palaeocene
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MICHAEL ALLABY. "Palaeocene." A Dictionary of Zoology. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MICHAEL ALLABY. "Palaeocene." A Dictionary of Zoology. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O8-Palaeocene.html MICHAEL ALLABY. "Palaeocene." A Dictionary of Zoology. 1999. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O8-Palaeocene.html |
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Palaeocene
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AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "Palaeocene." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "Palaeocene." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O13-Palaeocene.html AILSA ALLABY and MICHAEL ALLABY. "Palaeocene." A Dictionary of Earth Sciences. 1999. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O13-Palaeocene.html |
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Palaeocene
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MICHAEL ALLABY. "Palaeocene." A Dictionary of Plant Sciences. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MICHAEL ALLABY. "Palaeocene." A Dictionary of Plant Sciences. 1998. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O7-Palaeocene.html MICHAEL ALLABY. "Palaeocene." A Dictionary of Plant Sciences. 1998. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O7-Palaeocene.html |
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Palaeocene
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MICHAEL ALLABY. "Palaeocene." A Dictionary of Ecology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. MICHAEL ALLABY. "Palaeocene." A Dictionary of Ecology. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O14-Palaeocene.html MICHAEL ALLABY. "Palaeocene." A Dictionary of Ecology. 2004. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O14-Palaeocene.html |
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Palaeocene
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"Palaeocene." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Palaeocene." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-Palaeocene.html "Palaeocene." World Encyclopedia. 2005. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O142-Palaeocene.html |
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Palaeocene
Palaeocene •gamine • bromine • thiamine
•dopamine • amphetamine • histamine
•quinine • strychnine • mezzanine
•spalpeen • Philippine • lycopene
•gangrene • terrene • silkscreen
•windscreen • citrine • Dexedrine
•putting green • Benzedrine
•Irene, polystyrene
•widescreen • sight screen
•chlorine, chorine, Doreen, Maureen, Noreen, taurine
•smokescreen • rood screen
•sunscreen • fluorine • helleborine
•Gadarene • Hippocrene
•glycerine (US glycerin), nitroglycerine (US nitroglycerin)
•nectarine • wintergreen • Methedrine
•evergreen • wolverine • vaccine
•glassine • Essene • Rexine • piscine
•epicene • glycine • pyroxene
•Palaeocene (US Paleocene)
•Pliocene • Miocene • Holocene
•damascene • kerosene • Plasticine
•Pleistocene
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"Palaeocene." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. 28 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. "Palaeocene." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Encyclopedia.com. (May 28, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-Palaeocene.html "Palaeocene." Oxford Dictionary of Rhymes. 2007. Retrieved May 28, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O233-Palaeocene.html |
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