Scientists have discovered the oldest and deepest ‘whale graveyard’ ever discovered in the Indian Ocean. It is about 50 lakh years old and was found at a depth of more than 7 kilometers in the sea. Here, whale fossils and skeletons are spread over a radius of hundreds of kilometers.
Grind: Scientists have achieved a major success. They have discovered a ‘graveyard’ full of whale fossils dating back 5 million years in the Indian Ocean. It is the oldest whale cemetery ever discovered. Usually the remains of dead whales are found at a depth of less than 4 kilometers in the sea. But this new ‘sea graveyard’ is more than 7 kilometers deep. Researchers say that it extends for hundreds of miles on the sea floor.
Researchers have found that in these deep sea places, rotting whale bodies are still present and a large marine world is thriving depending on them. Dr. Giovanni Bianucci, researcher at the University of Pisa in Italy, explains, “This discovery proves that life can survive and develop even without light and heavy pressure. There may be many such organisms here, which science has not yet identified.”
Behind this big discovery is a team of scientists from China, Italy and New Zealand. He did this research in an area called ‘Diamantina Fracture Zone’ in the south-eastern part of the Indian Ocean. This area is full of deep hills and ravines. This area was formed about 5 to 6 crore years ago, when the Australian and Antarctic continents separated from each other.
According to a study published in the famous science magazine ‘Nature’, whale fossils were found in this area at a depth of 7002 meters below sea level. Scientists dived under the sea 32 times, finding 485 fossil sites and 5 new decomposing whale bodies. All these remains are spread for about 1200 kilometers in a particular direction from north-west to south-east. Therefore, researchers believe that this could be a large ‘super corridor’ connected to the movement of whales.
The largest relic found here is the 5 meter long skeleton of an Antarctic minke whale. Apart from this, skulls of some rare whale species that have become extinct have also been found as fossils. These also include a 53 lakh (5.3 million) year old whale species, which scientists have named ‘Pterocetus Diamantinae’. Many creatures like crabs, clams, bone-eating insects and starfish live on these rotting whale bodies. Most of these may be new species about which science is not yet aware.
John Copley, Professor of Marine Exploration at the University of Southampton, Britain, considers this discovery to be a ‘wonderful’ discovery in oceanography. He said that this type of colony has been found at such depth for the first time. The discovery of about 800 skeletons in one square kilometer is surprising the scientists. It is also interesting that the remains of minke whales that live in shallow waters and beaked whales that go into the depths of the ocean for hunting have been found at the same place.