Dry hydroclimates in the late Palaeocene-early Eocene hothouse world

Abstract Extreme global warming can produce hydroclimate changes that remain poorly understood for sub-tropical latitudes. Late Palaeocene-early Eocene (LPEE; ~58-52 Ma) proto-Mediterranean zones of the western Tethys offer opportunities to assess hydroclimate responses to massive carbon cycle perturbations. Here, we reconstruct LPEE hydroclimate conditions of these regions and find that carbon cycle perturbations exerted controls on orbitally forced hydroclimate variability. Long-term (~6 Myr) carbon cycle changes induced a gradual precipitation/moisture reduction, which was exacerbated by some short-lived (