Giant Whale Graveyard Found in The Ocean Is Like a Drowned City of The Dead
ScienceAlert • • general
Key Points:
- Scientists have discovered the largest, deepest, and oldest whale graveyard in the Diamantina Fracture Zone beneath the Indian Ocean, containing nearly 500 whale remains dating back up to 5.3 million years.
- The site spans 1,200 kilometers and includes fossilized skulls primarily from modern and extinct beaked whales, whose dense bones helped preserve them through mineral accumulation.
- The whale falls create unique deep-sea ecosystems supporting diverse life forms such as microbial mats, Osedax worms, brittle stars, and symbiotic bivalve mollusks, thriving at depths previously thought inhospitable.
- Researchers suggest the fracture zone's V-shaped topography funnels whale carcasses to the seafloor, making it a natural accumulation point and evolutionary archive for cetacean history.
- Experts highlight the discovery's significance as a rare, continuously growing fossil site, comparable in importance to landmark finds like the coelacanth and hydrothermal vents, with potential for uncovering new extinct species.