Late Neogene evolution of the Peruvian margin and its ecosystems: a synthesis from the Sacaco record

Ochoa, Diana; Salas-Gismondi, Rodolfo; DeVries, Thomas J.; Baby, Patrice; Muizon, Christian de; Altamirano, Alí; Barbosa-Espitia, Ángel A.; Foster, David A.; Quispe, Kelly; Cardich, Jorge; Gutiérrez, Dimitri; Pérez, Alexander; Valqui, Juan; Urbina, Mario; Carré, Matthieu

doi:10.1007/s00531-021-02003-1

Cited by 19 publications

(64 citation statements)

References 141 publications

(206 reference statements)

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“…Diatom biostratigraphy and 40 Ar/ 39 Ar ages date P1 to 9.5-8.9 Ma and P2 to 8.5-6.7 Ma [10,14,47,[53][54][55]. Elsewhere, strata assigned to the Pisco Formation are thought to extend into the Pliocene [32,44].…”

Section: Stratigraphy Of the Pisco Formation In The Lower Ica Valleymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Vertebrate Palaeoecology of the Pisco Formation (Miocene, Peru): Glimpses into the Ancient Humboldt Current Ecosystem

Collareta

Lambert

Marx

et al. 2021

JMSE

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The northward-flowing Humboldt Current hosts perpetually high levels of productivity along the western coast of South America. Here, we aim to elucidate the deep-time history of this globally important ecosystem based on a detailed palaeoecological analysis of the exceptionally preserved middle–upper Miocene vertebrate assemblages of the Pisco Formation of the East Pisco Basin, southern Peru. We summarise observations on hundreds of fossil whales, dolphins, seals, seabirds, turtles, crocodiles, sharks, rays, and bony fishes to reconstruct ecological relationships in the wake of the Middle Miocene Climatic Optimum, and the marked cooling that followed it. The lowermost, middle Miocene Pisco sequence (P0) and its vertebrate assemblage testify to a warm, semi-enclosed, near-shore palaeoenvironment. During the first part of the Tortonian (P1), high productivity within a prominent upwelling system supported a diverse assemblage of mesopredators, at least some of which permanently resided in the Pisco embayment and used it as a nursery or breeding/calving area. Younger portions of the Pisco Formation (P2) reveal a more open setting, with wide-ranging species like rorquals increasingly dominating the vertebrate assemblage, but also local differences reflecting distance from the coast. Like today, these ancient precursors of the modern Humboldt Current Ecosystem were based on sardines, but notably differed from their present-day equivalent in being dominated by extremely large-bodied apex predators like Livyatan melvillei and Carcharocles megalodon.

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Section: Stratigraphy Of the Pisco Formation In The Lower Ica Valleymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[70]), and greater numbers of Scaphokogia-like kogiids [112] and Piscobalaena nana [76]. As such, they may represent a more coastal equivalent of the upper P2 strata (see age estimates in Ochoa et al [44]).…”

Section: A Dynamic Palaeoecological and Palaeoenvironmental Landscapementioning

confidence: 99%

Vertebrate Palaeoecology of the Pisco Formation (Miocene, Peru): Glimpses into the Ancient Humboldt Current Ecosystem

Collareta

Lambert

Marx

et al. 2021

JMSE

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“…Fossils of the new gavialid and Piscogavialis are documented since approximately 19 Ma in the Chilcatay Formation and extensively recovered in the late Miocene deposits of the Pisco Formation in both areas (figure 1 a , b ; electronic supplementary material, figures S2 and S3). The Peruvian record is particularly rich in the late Miocene–earliest Pliocene strata of the Pisco Formation at Sacaco, with the last crocodylian remains documented at ca 4.85 Ma (figure 1 a,b ) [27]. During this time interval, the Sacaco area was a shallow marine environment connected to the open ocean and comprising protected embayments, rocky headlands and small islands (figure 1 b ) [26,27].…”

Section: Geological Context Palaeoenvironment and Agementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Peruvian record is particularly rich in the late Miocene–earliest Pliocene strata of the Pisco Formation at Sacaco, with the last crocodylian remains documented at ca 4.85 Ma (figure 1 a,b ) [27]. During this time interval, the Sacaco area was a shallow marine environment connected to the open ocean and comprising protected embayments, rocky headlands and small islands (figure 1 b ) [26,27]. A similar environment is depicted for most fossiliferous deposits of the Chilcatay and Pisco formations at the Ica-Pisco valley [30,32].…”

Section: Geological Context Palaeoenvironment and Agementioning

confidence: 99%

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Miocene fossils from the southeastern Pacific shed light on the last radiation of marine crocodylians

et al. 2022

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The evolution of crocodylians as sea dwellers remains obscure because living representatives are basically freshwater inhabitants and fossil evidence lacks crucial aspects about crocodylian occupation of marine ecosystems. New fossils from marine deposits of Peru reveal that crocodylians were habitual coastal residents of the southeastern Pacific (SEP) for approximately 14 million years within the Miocene ( ca 19 to 5 Ma), an epoch including the highest global peak of marine crocodylian diversity. The assemblage of the SEP comprised two long and slender-snouted (longirostrine) taxa of the Gavialidae: the giant Piscogavialis and a new early diverging species, Sacacosuchus cordovai . Although living gavialids ( Gavialis and Tomistoma ) are freshwater forms, this remarkable fossil record and a suite of evolutionary morphological analyses reveal that the whole evolution of marine crocodylians pertained to the gavialids and their stem relatives (Gavialoidea). This adaptive radiation produced two longirostrine ecomorphs with dissimilar trophic roles in seawaters and involved multiple transmarine dispersals to South America and most landmasses. Marine gavialoids were shallow sea dwellers, and their Cenozoic diversification was influenced by the availability of coastal habitats. Soon after the richness peak of the Miocene, gavialoid crocodylians disappeared from the sea, probably as part of the marine megafauna extinction of the Pliocene.

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The temperate marine Peruvian Province: How history accounts for its unusual biota

Vermeij,

DeVries,

Griffin

et al. 2024

Ecology and Evolution

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The Peruvian Province, from 6° S in Peru to 42° S in Chile, is a highly productive coastal marine region whose biology and fossil record have long been studied separately but never integrated. To understand how past events and conditions affected today's species composition and interactions, we examined the role of extinction, colonization, geologic changes to explain previously unrecognized peculiar features of the biota and to compare the Peruvian Province's history to that of other climatically similar temperate coasts. We synthesized all available data on the benthic (or benthically feeding) biota, with emphasis on fossilizable taxa, for the interval from the Miocene (23–5.4 Ma) and Pliocene (5.4–2.5 Ma) to the present. We outline the history of ecological guilds including primary producers, herbivores, predators, and suspension‐feeders and document patterns of extinction, colonization, and geographic restriction. We identify twelve unusual attributes of the biota, most of which are the result of repeated episodes of extinction. Several guilds present during the Miocene and Pliocene are not represented in the province today, while groups such as kelps and perhaps intertidal predatory sea stars are relative newcomers. Guilds on soft bottoms and in sheltered habitats were severely affected by extinction, whereas those on hard bottoms were most affected by colonists and held their own in diversity. The Peruvian Province has not served as a biogeographic refuge, in contrast to the coasts of Australasia and Argentina, where lineages no longer present in the Peruvian Province survive. The loss of sheltered habitats since the Pliocene explains many of the present‐day peculiarities of the biota. The history of the province's biota explains its unique attributes. High productivity, a rich Southern Hemisphere heritage, and colonization from the north account for the present‐day composition and unusual characteristics of the biota.

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Late Neogene evolution of the Peruvian margin and its ecosystems: a synthesis from the Sacaco record

Cited by 19 publications

References 141 publications

Vertebrate Palaeoecology of the Pisco Formation (Miocene, Peru): Glimpses into the Ancient Humboldt Current Ecosystem

Vertebrate Palaeoecology of the Pisco Formation (Miocene, Peru): Glimpses into the Ancient Humboldt Current Ecosystem

Miocene fossils from the southeastern Pacific shed light on the last radiation of marine crocodylians

The temperate marine Peruvian Province: How history accounts for its unusual biota

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