Paleocene

[pey-lee-uh-seen, pal-ee-]

adjective

1. noting or pertaining to an epoch of the Tertiary Period, from 65 to 55 million years ago, and characterized by a proliferation of mammals.

noun

1. the Paleocene Epoch or Series.

Paleocene

1. The earliest epoch of the Tertiary Period, from about 65 to 58 million years ago. During this time, the Rocky Mountains formed and sea levels dropped, exposing dry land in North America, Australia, and Africa. Many new types of small mammals evolved and filled the niches left empty after the extinctions that ended the Cretaceous Period. Soft-bodied squid replaced the ammonites as the dominant form of mollusk.

2. See Chart at geologic time

Word History and Origins

Origin of Paleocene¹

First recorded in 1875–80; paleo- + -cene

Example Sentences

These tracks might have been made by a creodont, a predatory mammal about the size of a house cat, which flourished in the Paleocene and Eocene in Europe, Africa and North America.

From Seattle Times

The last time there was no ice on the planet, no ice at all, would've been during the Paleocene–Eocene Thermal Maximum.

From Salon

The Paleocene mammals were not so easily categorized, however.

From Scientific American

During the Paleocene Epoch, a chaotic chapter of Earth’s history that began after the cataclysmic asteroid strike 66 million years ago that doomed the dinosaurs, our ancestors appear to have prioritized brawn over brains.

From New York Times

The researchers performed CT scans on fossils of 28 Paleocene mammal specimens and 96 from the subsequent Eocene Epoch, spanning 56-34 million years ago.

From Reuters