The Italian record of the Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum

The present paper summarises the state of the art of the studies on Italian Palaeocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum (PETM) records. The PETM (~ 56 Ma) likely represents the most dramatic and rapid event of global climate warming of the whole Cenozoic. During the PETM, temperatures at the Earth’s surface probably increased by at least 5°C over a few thousand years, and remained thereafter exceptionally high for over 100 k.y. Hallmark of the PETM is a negative excursion in stable carbon isotopes globally recognised that is generally interpreted as the response to a massive and sudden input of isotopically light carbon into the ocean-atmosphere system, which eventually gave rise to a rapid and extreme global warming. Climatic perturbations associated with the PETM were severe and affected both the marine and terrestrial domains, triggering faunal and floral turnovers and radiations, migrations and the most dramatic Cenozoic deep-sea benthic foraminiferal extinction event. Since the beginning of the 2000s, insightful contributions to this topic have been provided by the investigations of lower Palaeogene marine Italian records from the Umbria-Marche (Northern Apennines, Italy) and Belluno (Southern Alps, Italy) basins. In particular, crucial reference sections found in Scaglia Rossa-type facies, such as the Contessa, Possagno, Forada and Cicogna sections, have significantly improved our knowledge of the biotic and abiotic events associated to the PETM. Among these, the Forada section (Belluno Basin) was the focus of accurate integrated micropalaeontological (calcareous plankton and benthic foraminifera) and geochemical-stratigraphical studies, which possibly offer the most complete reconstruction across the PETM available in Europe to date.