Whale fossil bonanza in desert poses mystery

[Mr. McD]

Researchers have begun to unearth one of the world's best-preserved graveyards of prehistoric whales


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45367885/ns/technology_and_science-science/t/whales-desert-fossil-bonanza-poses-mystery/#.TslP9oYyZgs

[postulater]

1. God put it there 6000 yrs ago to fool Darwin. Nt

[CrispyQ]

2. Fascinating story. Worth the read! -nt

[MADem]

3. My first thought was tsunami or earthquake--I see I am not alone....

Hans Thewissen, an expert on early whales, agreed. Another scenario, he said, is that the whales might have gathered in a lagoon and then an earthquake or storm could have closed off the outlet to the ocean.
"Subsequently the lagoon dries up and the whales die," said Thewissen, a professor of anatomy at Northeast Ohio Medical University. He said the accumulation of so many complete skeletons is "a very unusual situation."
"If this were a lagoon that dried up, you might see signs that ocean water evaporated," such as crystallized salt and gypsum in the rock, said Thewissen, who is not involved in the research. "On the other hand, if a giant wave or storm flung the whales onto shore, it would also have pushed the ocean floor around, and you would see scour marks in the rocks."

[jwirr]

4. Extremely interesting article. Glad they have reputable groups in

there doing the dig.

[frogmarch]

5. Dolphins,

like whales, are cetaceans, and like whales are social animals. When a dolphin is ill and beaches itself, often other members of the pod will follow the sick one and beach themselves too. Maybe something like this happened with the ancient whales whose bones were found together.

[krispos42]

6. How many bowls of petunias did they find? n/t

[muriel_volestrangler]

8. Oh no, not again

:thumbsup:

[Enthusiast]

7. Some of those comments! OMG!

Is it any wonder that some Republicans believe, "That Sarah Palin is a smart woman."

I do not understand why this discovery represents a big mystery. We know that whales beach themselves today. There is no reason to believe this also wasn't true in the past.