Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 9.4
Hurricane Katrina. From the NASA Earth Observatory site, http://earthobservatory
.nasa.gov/.
sponsible for a roughly 40 percent increase in hurricane activity (Saunders
and Lea 2008). This means that similar increases likely occurred during
intervals of the geologic past that were even warmer than at present. These
include the LPTM/EECL (60-45 Ma, 10°C-12°C warmer), a peak in the
early to middle Miocene (18-14 Ma, 5°C-6°C warmer), and in the middle
Pliocene (circa 3.5 Ma, 3.5°C warmer).
Another observation is that in the late Paleocene/early Eocene, the
distance between Africa and South America was half to a third that of
the present. Moreover, it was in the Eocene that the Antilles arc collided
with the Bahamas Platform, causing emergence of the islands and provid-
ing intermediate target areas between the continents. Assuming these al-
tered conditions increased the likelihood that some plants may have dis-
persed over the shorter distances during the warmer intervals of the past,
it would be interesting to compile data on the estimated time of arrival for
