Foraminifera from the Northern Olympic Peninsula, Washington

Rau, W.W.

doi:10.3133/pp374g

Cited by 30 publications

(44 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…The age of the fossils from this locality (∼30 million years) is late early Oligocene on the basis of foraminiferans, mollusks, and mammal fossils (25) and magnetostratigraphy (26). Benthic Foraminifera, mollusks, large isopods, and the mode of preservation of whale fossils at this site, with the ventral side up and the limbs still in place, indicate that these sediments were deposited at bathyal depth (27,28). In many cases, fossil bones from this locality were heavily corroded, probably bioeroded, before being fossilized (28), some to the point of being nothing more than amorphous fragments (29) with Osedax having likely played a major role.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fossil traces of the bone-eating worm Osedax in early Oligocene whale bones

Kiel

Goedert

Kahl

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Osedax is a recently discovered group of siboglinid annelids that consume bones on the seafloor and whose evolutionary origins have been linked with Cretaceous marine reptiles or to the postCretaceous rise of whales. Here we present whale bones from early Oligocene bathyal sediments exposed in Washington State, which show traces similar to those made by Osedax today. The geologic age of these trace fossils (∼30 million years) coincides with the first major radiation of whales, consistent with the hypothesis of an evolutionary link between Osedax and its main food source, although older fossils should certainly be studied. Osedax has been destroying bones for most of the evolutionary history of whales and the possible significance of this "Osedax effect" in relation to the quality and quantity of their fossils is only now recognized.annelids | deep sea | fossil record | symbiosis T he deep sea has the least explored biodiversity (1, 2), and the scarcity of food in the abyss has resulted in a range of evolutionary novelties (3)(4)(5). A recent discovery in this field is the annelid genus Osedax that lives and feeds exclusively on bones on the seafloor (6). Age estimates using molecular clocks suggest either an Eocene to Oligocene origin of Osedax, coincident with the rise of whales (6, 7), or a Cretaceous origin (7), depending on the rate used, but these estimates have not yet been corroborated by fossil evidence. Osedax belongs to the family Siboglinidae that includes the large tube worms living around deep-sea hydrothermal vents and cold seeps (6). Whereas other siboglinids live in symbiosis with chemoautotrophic bacteria, Osedax has symbionts that are heterotrophic γ-proteobacteria consuming mainly collagen and/or lipids (8). The symbionts are housed mainly in tissue that forms a "root system" extending into the bone. The action of the roots and associated bacteria results in the destruction of the bone interior. The roots are connected to the main body of the worm that emerges from the bone via a circular hole on the bone surface (6, 9). Such holes and excavations in fossil bones can arguably be used to infer the presence of Osedax in the geologic past. Here we report Oligocene whale bones that show such traces. ResultsTraces resembling those left by Osedax in whale bones today were found in two early Oligocene whales from bathyal sediments of the Pysht Formation in northwestern Washington State (Fig. 1). The whale fossils were preserved within hard carbonate concretions from rock outcrops on the modern beach terrace. The whales were small, toothed mysticetes with a body length estimated to not exceed 4 m. One specimen (USNM 539939) is the posterodorsal part of a skull that includes a right dentary, a periotic, a bulla, some teeth, and other fragments in addition to six small shark teeth (?Somniosus sp.). Boreholes are on the lateral surface of the dentary and on two rib fragments ( Fig. 1 A and C). Some of the bones preserve marks left by the teeth of scavenging sharks. The ventral portion of the skull was co...

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fossil traces of the bone-eating worm Osedax in early Oligocene whale bones

Kiel

Goedert

Kahl

et al. 2010

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…The four cetaceans are in concretions from deep-water strata exposed near the mouth of Murdock Creek, Clallam County, Washington. These strata are in the lower part of the formation and are mostly concretionary mudstone (Brown and Gower, 1958) deposited at bathyal depths (Rau, 1964). The mudstone is roughly middle Oligocene in age (Durham, 1944: p. 110;Goedert and Squires, 1993;Squires and Goedert, 1994), and is very similar lithologically and paleontologically to the upper part of the Makah Formation between the Sekiu River and Shipwreck Point.…”

Section: Pysht Formationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Paleoecology of whale-fall habitats from deep-water Oligocene rocks, Olympic Peninsula, Washington state

Goedert

Squires

Barnes

1995

Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology

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Fossil mollusks associated with eight Oligocene whales from the Makah and Pysht Formations on the northwestern part of the Olympic Peninsula, Washington, suggest that whale carcass sulfide production supported small numbers of some chemosymbiotic invertebrates as early as 30 million years ago. Thyasirid and modiolid bivalves usually dominate these very localized molluscan assemblages; lucinid and nuculanid bivalves, scaphandrid, naticid, and buccinid gastropods are rarely present; brachiopods were found once. These fossils include, tentatively, the first fossil record for the bivalve genus Idasola, and the first record of the bivalve Thyasira peruviana Olsson, outside of probable cold-seep deposits in South America. Strata surrounding the fossil whales contain low diversity megafaunas that include rare deep-water gastropods and bivalves, large isopods, and localized cold-seep communities. The whale-fall assemblages differ significantly because of the presence of Idasola? sp. and Thyasira peruviana? and the absence of vesicomyid bivalves. Vertebrate carcasses have probably not contributed significantly to the dispersal of cold-seep and hydrothermal vent invertebrates. Seep/vent communities were well established much earlier than the evolution of cetaceans, and seep/vent invertebrates have not been found with carcasses of other large vertebrates.

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“…Studies of benthonic foraminifers by Rau (1964, andwritten commun., 1977) places the Hoko River Formation in the late Narizian Stage of Mallory (1959). Fossil crabs from concretions in the conglomerate channel at Kydikabbit Point are late Eocene in age (Addicott, written commun., 1975).…”

Section: Agementioning

confidence: 99%

“…10). A study of benthonic foraminifers by Rau (1964;written commun., 1977) would place he Pysht Formation in the Zemorrian Stage (Kleinpell, 1938). The boundary between the Zemorrian and Saucesian Stages is in the uppermost part of the Pysht on the basis of the benthonic foraminifers (Addicott, 1967b, p. 442).…”

Section: Agementioning

confidence: 99%

Changes in stratigraphic nomenclature by the U. S. Geological Survey, 1977

Sohl¹,

Wright²

1978

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Foraminifera from the Northern Olympic Peninsula, Washington

Cited by 30 publications

References 8 publications

Fossil traces of the bone-eating worm Osedax in early Oligocene whale bones

Fossil traces of the bone-eating worm Osedax in early Oligocene whale bones

Paleoecology of whale-fall habitats from deep-water Oligocene rocks, Olympic Peninsula, Washington state

Changes in stratigraphic nomenclature by the U. S. Geological Survey, 1977

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