Fig. 1: Foraminiferal data and climate indicators for the early Eocene, mid-Miocene, and preindustrial present.
From: What the geological past can tell us about the future of the ocean’s twilight zone
From the top: Illustrations of planktonic foraminiferal distribution and species diversity across the Cenozoic; Planktonic foraminiferal community distribution for the Miocene (pink) and core-top (blue) from ref. 8 (no data available for the early Eocene); modeled surface and benthic ocean temperature and continental configurations for early Eocene, mid-Miocene and preindustrial present (“Modern”); the global benthic δ18O stack for changes over the Cenozoic79. The benthic δ18O stack is dominated by the combined effects of temperature and global ice volume (SH is Southern Hemisphere, NH is Northern Hemisphere. PETM is Paleocene Eocene Thermal Maximum, EECO is Early Eocene Climatic Optimum, MECO is Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum, OMT is Oligocene Miocene Transition, MCO is Miocene Climatic Optimum, MMCT is Middle Miocene Climate Transition), as seen in the deep ocean.
