The world, Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) boundary, 66 Ma, PALEOMAP Project
The world, start of the Paleocene (K-Pg boundary), 65 Ma, Global Paleogeographic Views of Earth History, NAU
North America, Paleocene, 60 Ma, Paleogeography and Geologic Evolution of North America, NAU
North America, Paleocene, 60 Ma, Regional Paleogeographic Views of Earth History
North America in the Paleogene Period
Paleocene, Palæos
Paleocene, Wikipedia
The Paleocene Epoch, University of California Museum of Paleontology
Geologic Time Table, Seafriends
See general sources above.
Paleocene, ~60 Ma, PALEOMAP project
Paleocene Mammals of the World, Martin Jehle
Paleocene Flora, Fauna, Wikipedia
Paleocene Life category, Wikipedia
Maryland Paleocene Fossils, Itano Family Fossil Collection
Terrestrial Life through the Paleocene, and Life in the Paleocene Oceans, Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History
Begining of the Cenozoic Era and the Paleogene Period. Life begins to recover from the K-T extinction.
Boltysh crater impact event (Ukraine), Eagle Butte crater (Canada), Vista Alegre crater (Brazil), and the Chicxulub crater impact event (Mexico) near the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary. The Alvarez hypothesis says this last impact was the primary cause of the K-T extinction
Sea levels fall from the Cretaceous high levels, and the inland seas that covered much of the continents of the Cretaceous Period disappear.
All the continents of the former supercontinent of Gondwana are now separated and moving apart. North America, South America, Australia, Africa and Antarctica are starting to take on the shape they have today. North and South America are still separated, and a seaway exists between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.
India is rapidly moving north toward its collision with southern Asia. Africa moves north toward Europe.
North America and Eurasia are still not separate, though inland seaways divide the future continents. Rifting and volcanic activity accelerates during the Paleocene, creating much of the basalt rock of the North Atlantic Igneous Province (the basalt of the North Atlantic Ocean floor, Geenland, Iceland, the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Norway).
The Laramide orogeny of the Late Cretaceous continues to uplift the Rocky Mountains in North America during the Paleocene.
Alaska and Florida have largely formed. Sediments from the eroding Appalachians create the east coast's continental shelf, and contribute sediments to the west. Other mountains in North America such as the Rocky Mountains and the Sierra Nevada also erode, creating sediments that are often many kilometers deep. Swamp and lacustrine (lake) conditions create the coal, shale and sandstone of the Fort Union Formation of Montana and Wyoming, and the fossil site at Wannagan Creek, North Dakota.
Sea levels and ocean temperatures fluctuate widely later in the Paleocene.
The oldest known primate species are from the late Paleocene.
Many modern plant types first appear.
Connolly Basin crater impact event (Australia)
Marquez crater impact event (Texas)
Jebel Waqf as-Suwwan impact event (Jordan), Paleocene or Eocene.
At the end of the Paleocene, a sharp jump in global temperatures called the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum occurs. Over a few thousand years world temperatures rise by 6°C. The event causes a huge increase in some animals, especially mammals, but causes the extinction of others such as benthic (ocean bottom) foraminifera species. Sea levels rise.
© 2009, Mr. Varner.
