Abstract: The late Professor Minchen Chow started his career in vertebrate paleontology with a team of scholars working to clarify the biostratigraphy and paleogeography of Paleocene–Eocene change in mammalian faunas. This is the time of first appearance of artiodactyls, perissodactyls, and primates (APP taxa) in the fossil record. Recognition of the Paleocene as an epoch separate from the Eocene started to be accepted in 1911 following discovery of a new Clarkforkian latest–Paleocene mammalian fauna at Polecat Bench in western North America. Later the Paleocene–Eocene boundary was shown to include an interval with dwarfed mammalian lineages. A Paleocene–Eocene carbon isotope excursion (CIE) was discovered coincident with both mammalian dwarfing and the first appearance of APP taxa. This enabled global generalization of the CIE, which is linked in turn to the Paleocene–Eocene thermal maximum (PETM). The PETM was a global greenhouse warming event with transient effects on the earth’s climate and biota, but also profound lasting effects on the biota. Much of what we know about mammals in relation to the CIE and PETM we have learned through high-resolution study of the exceptional stratigraphic record flanking Polecat Bench, where Professor Chow worked early in his career and where his ashes now lie.

摘要： 跟随一队研究哺乳动物群古新世−始新世变化的生物地层学和古地理学的学者，已故周明镇教授开始了他的古脊椎动物学事业。这是化石记录中偶蹄类、奇蹄类和灵长类(APP类群)首次出现的时期。随着北美西部Polecat Bench新的最晚古新世Clarkforkian哺乳动物群的发现，古新世作为一个独立于始新世的分期从1911年开始被接受。后来，研究证明古新世−始新世界线包括了一段时间，这期间发育了矮小型哺乳动物支系。古新世−始新世碳同位素漂移(CIE)与哺乳动物矮小化以及APP类群的首次出现是同时的。据此可以对CIE进行全球性总结，结果表明它与古新世−始新世极热事件(PETM)相关。PETM这一全球温室变暖事件不仅对地球气候和生物群有短暂的影响，而且对生物群同样具有深远持续的影响。我们所知的哺乳动物与CIE和PETM之间关系的大部分内容是通过对Polecat Bench周边剖面的独特地层记录的高分辨率研究得到的。周教授早年曾在那里工作过，如今他的骨灰也撒在那里。