A 5.3M-year-old deep-sea whale necropolis in the Diamantina Zone
a day ago
- Researchers discovered a vast whale necropolis in the Diamantina Zone (4,616–7,001 m depth) spanning 1,200 km along the seafloor of the southeastern Indian Ocean.
- The site contains five modern whale-fall communities and 476 fossil cetaceans, with specialized fauna including brittle stars, bone-boring worms, and chemosynthesis-based bivalves.
- Fossil record includes both extant and extinct deep-diving beaked whales, with isotopic dating indicating whale falls have occurred there for at least 5.3 million years.
- The findings extend the known depth range of whale-fall ecosystems by over 2,500 m and establish deep seafloors as a fossil archive for tracing cetacean evolution.