The transition from the Paleocene to the Eocene Epoch -- approximately 55 million years ago -- represents a critical moment in the earth's history, when the warmest climatic episode of the Cenozoic era occurred. This sudden global warming resulted in major turnovers among marine and terrestrial organisms. Although this episode has become one of the most popular areas of research in the geologic sciences in the past decade, there has not yet been a work that brings together the profusion of new results in one volume. This book offers by far the most comprehensive source of data on a critically important interval of the earth's history.

The editors have brought together the finest scholars working today on the Paleocene-Eocene transition. Covering mammals, reptiles, invertebrates, and plants, as well as the spectrum of marine biotas, the book documents both the well-established and the lesser-known turnovers, such as those of the calcareous nannoplankton and terrestrial mollusks. The volume is also notable for its integration of knowledge culled from a wide variety of disciplines, geographic settings, fossil groups, and paleoenvironments.

With 21 contributions and more than 180 illustrations, this book will be of great value as a reference source for a wide spectrum of scientists, from marine geologists and oceanographers to paleontologists, paleoclimatologists, and stratigraphers.