Massive whale graveyard dating back 5.3 million years discovered
A huge whale graveyard spanning 1,200 km and 7 km deep has been found in the southeastern Indian Ocean. Some remains are 5.3 million years old, with scientists calling it a unique discovery.
A team of researchers from China, Italy and New Zealand has discovered a massive whale graveyard in the southeastern Indian Ocean, located in the Diamantina fracture zone. The site stretches about 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) and lies 7 kilometers (4 miles) deep. During 32 dives, explorers collected samples from 485 whale-fossil sites and active whale falls.
Among the finds are skulls of the extinct beaked whale Pterocetus benguelae, dating back 5.3 million years. The largest discovery was a five-meter-long Antarctic minke whale carcass. The team also uncovered a new species, named Pterocetus diamantinae after the site.
The underwater necropolis teems with organisms such as jellyfish, worms and crustaceans, which may be new to science. Co-author Xiaotong Peng of the Chinese Academy of Sciences said the scale of the discovery was completely unexpected, and its size, depth and age range were far beyond anything they had imagined.
Stephen J. Godfrey of the Calvert Marine Museum wrote in Nature that the encounter with such a vast fossil graveyard is truly unique. Although the site has limited accessibility, it likely holds many more exciting finds and will inspire future submersible dives in similar environments.
