Whale fossil bonanza in desert poses mystery

www.msnbc.msn.com...
By EVA VERGARA, IAN JAMES
updated 24 minutes ago

SANTIAGO, Chile — More than 2 million years ago, scores of whales congregating off the Pacific Coast of South America mysteriously met their end.

Maybe they became disoriented and beached themselves. Maybe they were trapped in a lagoon by a landslide or a storm. Maybe they died there over a period of a few millennia. But somehow, they ended up right next to one another, many just meters (yards) apart, entombed as the shallow sea floor was driven upward by geological forces and transformed into the driest place on the planet.

Today, they have emerged again atop a desert hill more than a kilometer (half a mile) from the surf, where researchers have begun to unearth one of the world's best-preserved graveyards of prehistoric whales.

No. All the whales died within the last 6000 years, just after their creation!

Originally posted by SambhavaamiYugeYuge
No. All the whales died within the last 6000 years!

"The fossils are exceptionally well preserved and quite complete — a rare combination in paleontology and one that will likely shed light on many facets of the ... ecology and evolution of these extinct species," Fitzgerald said.

They say that more than 75 whales have been discovered so far — including more than 20 perfectly intact skeletons.

reply to post by Pauligirl

fossils dont lie great post op
sf



ps i heard it takes at least 10,000 years to form a fossil

Originally posted by SambhavaamiYugeYuge
No. All the whales died within the last 6000 years, just after their creation!

was that a joke

they say one day in Heaven is proportional to 1000 years on Earth.
Think about that reversed or can't you get your head around that

"More than 2 million years ago, scores of whales congregating off the Pacific Coast of South America mysteriously met their end. " I wonder how the know it was 2 million years ago ? the next paragraph says maybe.maybe.maybe ...neet find thow .

reply to post by Pauligirl

entombed as the shallow sea floor was driven upward by geological forces and transformed into the driest place on the planet.

no mystery

Originally posted by the2ofusr1
"More than 2 million years ago, scores of whales congregating off the Pacific Coast of South America mysteriously met their end. " I wonder how the know it was 2 million years ago ? the next paragraph says maybe.maybe.maybe ...neet find thow .

They don't. It goes on to say the whales probably died between 2 million and 7 million years ago. Guess they have some more digging to do.

This is cool.

It will give all those paleontologist a lot of things to study and hopefully lead to some more answers about the prehistoric past of our planet. What is really cool is that dolphin fossil that was also in the same area that had tusks that were only previously found in Peru.

Dolphins with tusks was the original sharks with laser beams on their foreheads.

Interesting mystery. Perhaps the land masses were different that long ago.

I do know that during the last ice age, 20,000 years, the sea levels dropped considerably, well over 200 meters. That'd be enough to strand whales, if there was an accompanying earthquake.

It does appear we are looking at fossils the predate the last ice age.

SnF.

Originally posted by Burgo1010


they say one day in Heaven is proportional to 1000 years on Earth.
Think about that reversed or can't you get your head around that

Who are THEY and how do they know?

This is awesome! I love dinos and what not, sure its no T-Rex, but its still cool.

slightly off topic: Yeah no where in the Bible does it say the earth is "young".

I don't know why people say it is

Originally posted by whaaa

Originally posted by Burgo1010


they say one day in Heaven is proportional to 1000 years on Earth.
Think about that reversed or can't you get your head around that

Who are THEY and how do they know?

Martin Luther (not our civil rights man). He is a Biblical scholar and it is widely accepted. As to how they know, beats me. Maybe God will confirm if you ask him.

I'm trying to find the source (I read it in a real book ) so it may or may not be true, but ill try to find the source)

Originally posted by calnorak

Originally posted by whaaa

Originally posted by Burgo1010


they say one day in Heaven is proportional to 1000 years on Earth.
Think about that reversed or can't you get your head around that

Who are THEY and how do they know?

Martin Luther (not our civil rights man). He is a Biblical scholar and it is widely accepted. As to how they know, beats me. Maybe God will confirm if you ask him.

I'm trying to find the source (I read it in a real book

) so it may or may not be true, but ill try to find the source)

edit on 20-11-2011 by calnorak because: (no reason given)

2 Peter 3:8
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

So it says, anyway.

More than anything, the question NOT being asked is what kind of event buried entire families of whales... mom, dad and child, suddenly and in such a way as to see their preservation in stone in the form of that last single instant of life?

It is not at all unlike the mammoths found frozen with their last meals still in their bellies and food being chewed in their mouths.

We don't dare ask these questions because we have neither an answer or an idea that doesn't scare the gee-whizz out of the possibility concepts.

Originally posted by Burgo1010

Originally posted by SambhavaamiYugeYuge
No. All the whales died within the last 6000 years, just after their creation!

was that a joke

they say one day in Heaven is proportional to 1000 years on Earth.
Think about that reversed or can't you get your head around that

I would guess that "they" are religious figures of the Christian faith?

Originally posted by Pauligirl

Originally posted by calnorak

Originally posted by whaaa

Originally posted by Burgo1010


they say one day in Heaven is proportional to 1000 years on Earth.
Think about that reversed or can't you get your head around that

Who are THEY and how do they know?

Martin Luther (not our civil rights man). He is a Biblical scholar and it is widely accepted. As to how they know, beats me. Maybe God will confirm if you ask him.

I'm trying to find the source (I read it in a real book

) so it may or may not be true, but ill try to find the source)

edit on 20-11-2011 by calnorak because: (no reason given)

2 Peter 3:8
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

So it says, anyway.

Ugh. You quoted the bible, now all the atheists on ats are going to flood this thread with their mean spirited and snide remarks about Jesus and throw the thread off-topic.

As per the OP, very interesting. Think of this since youre talking bible. The great flood , biblical evidence the great flood happened and as the waters receded the whales got stuck and died.

Or it could be as science says, since science is other folks' god.

Originally posted by redoubt
More than anything, the question NOT being asked is what kind of event buried entire families of whales... mom, dad and child, suddenly and in such a way as to see their preservation in stone in the form of that last single instant of life?

It is not at all unlike the mammoths found frozen with their last meals still in their bellies and food being chewed in their mouths.

We don't dare ask these questions because we have neither an answer or an idea that doesn't scare the gee-whizz out of the possibility concepts.

Chilean scientists together with researchers from the Smithsonian Institution are studying how these whales, many of the them the size of buses, wound up in the same corner of the Atacama Desert.......

..........As for why such a great number perished in the same place, Pyenson said: "There are many ways that whales could die, and we're still testing all those different hypotheses."

I would say they are asking the question.

Originally posted by lonewolf19792000

2 Peter 3:8
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.

So it says, anyway.

Ugh. You quoted the bible, now all the atheists on ats are going to flood this thread with their mean spirited and snide remarks about Jesus and throw the thread off-topic.

As per the OP, very interesting. Think of this since youre talking bible. The great flood

, biblical evidence the great flood happened and as the waters receded the whales got stuck and died.

Or it could be as science says, since science is other folks' god.

I was just giving the source of the quote.
I'm an atheist.
The 2 to 7 million year time period works for me.