5.3M-year-old deep-sea whale necropolis in the Diamantina Zone

7 hours ago

Discovery of a vast whale necropolis in the Diamantina Zone of the southeastern Indian Ocean, extending about 1,200 km along the sea floor at depths of 4,616 to 7,001 meters.
The area contains five modern natural whale-fall communities and 476 fossil cetaceans, with isotopic dating indicating whale falls have occurred there for at least 5.3 million years.
Active whale-fall communities are dominated by specialized fauna including brittle stars, bone-boring worms (Osedax), and chemosynthesis-based bivalves, many potentially new to science.
Fossil record includes both extant deep-diving beaked whale species (Mesoplodon bowdoini and M. layardii) and extinct genera (Pterocetus and Izikoziphius).
The findings extend the known depth range of whale-fall ecosystems by over 2,500 meters and suggest these sites act as evolutionary hotspots and biogeographic stepping stones for deep-sea chemosynthetic fauna.
The high concentration of whale remains is attributed to factors including beaked whales' deep-diving ecology, the V-shaped topography funneling carcasses, and ultra-low sedimentation rates allowing long-term preservation.
This whale necropolis serves as a deep-sea fossil archive for tracing cetacean evolution and palaeoecology from the Pliocene to the present.

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