<p>I understand that you could fill multiple books with descriptions of the PETM and the mechanisms that incited the event. I have always wondered what regions of the world were covered in what types of biomes.</p>

<p>I have read that there was virtually no ice, the tropical latitudes experienced a period of unbelievable wetness, and that many Asian mammals migrated north.</p>

<p>Were the tropics massive rainforests and jungles? Where might we have found desserts during this time? I know that the continents looked much more different than they do today, so if someone could just generalize what parts of the world were covered in what biomes my curiosity would be satisfied.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-13T17:56:44.457Z
I was wondering the same and I found an interesting image in Eocene Wikipedia entry. It's not about this nearest temperature maximum (PETM), but it can give an approximation. ![Model of satellite view of Earth in the Eocene](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Ypresian_Earth_50_mya.jpg)
Javier González Berenguel
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-13T19:22:52.880Z
very relevant link https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/7/2077/2014/gmd-7-2077-2014.pdf
John
CC BY-SA 4.0
2021-08-14T03:09:37.970Z
[The types of plants that grew in Wyoming during the PETM were quite different from those that came before or after. Fossils of plants in the bean family, Fabaceae, are unusually abundant and diverse during the PETM. Vegetation before and after the PETM in this area might have looked like that in south Georgia or north Florida today. During the PETM it probably looked more like dry, tropical Mexico.](https://naturalhistory2.si.edu/ete/ETE_People_Wing_ResearchThemes_Wyoming.html)
Keith McClary
<climate-change><earth-history><paleoclimatology>
Biomes that existed during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Max (PETM)
Jonathan L.
# Biomes that existed during the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Max (PETM)

(Asked by: username_0 on 2019-03-06)

I understand that you could fill multiple books with descriptions of the PETM and the mechanisms that incited the event. I have always wondered what regions of the world were covered in what types of biomes.

I have read that there was virtually no ice, the tropical latitudes experienced a period of unbelievable wetness, and that many Asian mammals migrated north.

Were the tropics massive rainforests and jungles? Where might we have found desserts during this time? I know that the continents looked much more different than they do today, so if someone could just generalize what parts of the world were covered in what biomes my curiosity would be satisfied.

**Tags:** climate-change, earth-history, paleoclimatology

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I was wondering the same and I found an interesting image in Eocene Wikipedia entry. It's not about this nearest temperature maximum (PETM), but it can give an approximation. ![Model of satellite view of Earth in the Eocene](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/03/Ypresian_Earth_50_mya.jpg)  
> **username_2**: very relevant link https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/7/2077/2014/gmd-7-2077-2014.pdf  
> **username_3**: [The types of plants that grew in Wyoming during the PETM were quite different from those that came before or after. Fossils of plants in the bean family, Fabaceae, are unusually abundant and diverse during the PETM. Vegetation before and after the PETM in this area might have looked like that in south Georgia or north Florida today. During the PETM it probably looked more like dry, tropical Mexico.](https://naturalhistory2.si.edu/ete/ETE_People_Wing_ResearchThemes_Wyoming.html)  

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## 0 answers

