The double - barreled carbon release at the Paleocene -
Eocene time boundary pretty much rules out an asteroid or comet impact because such a catastrophe would have been «too quick» to explain the 1,500 - year duration of each carbon pulse, Bowen says.
By contrast, diversification analyses failed to detect evidence for rate - shift changes near the
Eocene - Oligocene
boundary even though the fossil record provides clear evidence for a major turnover event («Grande Coupure») at this
time.