Over the past 66 million years, two major climate events have shaped the climate system, dividing this period into two distinct climate eras. Analysis of the tipping point hierarchy suggests that over the past 66 million years, two major events laid the foundation for subsequent climate changes and specifically the evolution of the climate system. The authors suggest that if current anthropogenic climate change results in complete deglaciation, this will affect the evolution of Earth's climate over geological timescales. The research, conducted by Denis-Didier Rousseau of the Université Montpellier, France, Witold Bagniewski of the Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, France, and Valerio Lucarini of the University of Reading, UK, was published in the journal Scientific Reports and is included European Project TiPES on turning points in the earth system.

Inspired by evolutionary theory

A new view of the history of climate change was inspired by punctuated equilibrium theory, which classifies evolutionary change into hierarchies.