Earth History Research and News

A team of creationist researchers led by Leonard Brand of the Department of Natural Sciences, Loma Linda University, has documented dramatic evidence of rapid diatomite accumulation in the Pisco Formation of Peru. The unusual preservation of numerous baleen whales in the diatomaceous sediments seems to require astonishingly rapid rates of deposition, unlike those observed in the present day. The investigators concluded that the most viable explanation was burial fast enough to cover whales 5-13 m long and about 50 cm thick within a few weeks or months. Their paper made the cover of the February 2004 issue of Geology, a premier publication of the Geological Society of America.

Brand LR, Esperante R, Chadwick AV, Porras OP, Alomia M, ‘Fossil whale preservation implies high diatom accumulation rate in the Miocene-Pliocene Pisco Formation of Peru’, Geology 2004;32(2):165-168.

Abstract: Diatomaceous deposits in the Miocene-Pliocene Pisco Formation contain abundant whales preserved in pristine condition (bones articulated or at least closely associated), in some cases including preserved baleen. The well-preserved whales indicate rapid burial. The 346 whales within 1.5 km2 of surveyed surface were not buried as an event, but were distributed uninterrupted through an 80-m-thick sedimentary section. The diatomaceous sediment lacks repeating primary laminations, but instead is mostly massive, with irregular laminations and speckles. There is no evidence for bioturbation by invertebrates in the whale-bearing sediment. Current depositional models do not account for the volume of diatomaceous sediments or the taphonomic features of the whales. These taphonomic and sedimentary features suggest that rapid burial due to high diatom accumulation, in part by lateral advection into protected, shallow embayments, is responsible for the superb preservation of these whales, leading to a higher upper limit on phytoplankton accumulation rates than previously documented.