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Deep-water taphonomy of vertebrate carcasses: a whale skeleton in the bathyal Santa Catalina Basin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2016

Peter A. Allison ,
Craig R. Smith ,
Helmut Kukert ,
Jody W. Deming  and
Bruce A. Bennett
Peter A. Allison
Affiliation:
Postgraduate Research Institute for Sedimentology, The University, P.O. Box 227, White-knights, Reading RG6 2AB, England
Craig R. Smith
Affiliation:
School of Oceanography and Earth Science and Technology, 1000 Pope Road, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822
Helmut Kukert
Affiliation:
School of Oceanography and Earth Science and Technology, 1000 Pope Road, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822
Jody W. Deming
Affiliation:
School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
Bruce A. Bennett
Affiliation:
School of Oceanography, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195
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Abstract

Taphonomic processes in deep-water environments differ markedly from those in shallow waters. These differences are illustrated by the preservational style of a large cetacean skeleton lying at the bottom of the Santa Catalina Basin in 1,240 m of water. The degree of skeletal articulation contrasts with that documented in the shallow North Sea where gas-filled, buoyant carcasses disarticulated during flotation. Increased hydrostatic pressure at greater depth is presumed to have prevented the whale carcass from floating and promoted increased levels of preservation. We present a model that relates gas evolution during decay to carcass buoyancy with depth. Application of this model may ultimately allow the degree of skeletal articulation to be used as a rough index of paleobathymetry.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , Winter 1991 , pp. 78 - 89
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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References

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