Taphonomy and paleoenvironmental conditions of deposition of fossil whales in the diatomaceous sediments of the Miocene/Pliocene Pisco Formation, southern Peru—A new fossil-lagerstätte

Stratigraphic framework of the late Miocene Pisco Formation at Cerro Los Quesos (Ica Desert, Peru)

“…Brand, Esperante, Chadwick, Poma Porras, & Alomía, 2004;Ehret et al, 2012;Esperante, Brand, Chadwick, & Poma, 2015;Esperante, Brand, Nick, Poma, & Urbina, 2008;Gariboldi et al, 2015;Lambert, Bianucci, & de Muizon, 2008;Lambert, Bianucci, & Post, 2009Lambert, Bianucci, Post, de Muizon, et al, 2010;Lambert, Bianucci, & Beatty, 2014;Lambert, de Muizon, & Bianucci, 2014;Lambert et al, 2015;Collareta et al, 2015). However, despite the growing significance of the vertebrate fauna of the Pisco Formation, a comprehensive stratigraphic framework for individual fossil-bearing localities and their position relative to one another has yet to be established (Brand, Urbina, Chadwick, DeVries, & Esperante, 2011;Di Celma et al, in press).…”

The dolomite nodules enclosing fossil marine vertebrates in the East Pisco Basin, Peru: Field and petrographic insights into the Lagerstätte formation

“…Within bones, dolomite fills cavities such as Haversian canals and trabecular porosities ( Although we are not able to identify the organism which left these traces, they seem to be the same represented in Fig.13D of Esperante et al (2015), described as Wedl type tunnels; however, the length and the diameter of microborings type B do not fit the description of Wedl type tunnels, which are described as tunnels of 8 µm of diameter penetrating for 0.2-0.25 mm below the bones surface (Davis, 1997).…”

“…Extremely high sedimentation rates have been hypothesized for the Pisco Fm. (Brand et al, 2004;Esperante et al, 2015), but have not been measured yet.…”

“…This could be the reason for the exeptional preservation of baleen in the Pisco Fm. Described by Esperante et al (2008). Besides the current role of nodules in protecting the bones at the outcrop, our reconstruction of the timing and mechanisms of their formation during early diagenesis implies additional ways through which they acted a central role in the preservation of the Pisco marine fossil vertebrates:…”

Distribution of fossil marine vertebrates in Cerro Colorado, the type locality of the giant raptorial sperm whaleLivyatan melvillei(Miocene, Pisco Formation, Peru)

“…The first attempt to census the fossil vertebrates in the Pisco Formation was made by Muizon and DeVries (1985). Two decades later, Brand, Esperante and colleagues (Brand, Esperante, Chadwick, Poma, and Alomía, 2004;Esperante, Brand, Nick, Poma, and Urbina, 2008;Esperante, Brand, Chadwick, & Poma, 2015), evidenced an extraordinary concentration of specimens in several localities of the Pisco Formation, but these papers were limited to baleen whales and, consequently, did not provide any useful information about the faunal diversity of these highly fossiliferous areas. With a different approach, Brand, Urbina, Chadwick, DeVries, and Esperante (2011) attempted to place some published fossil vertebrates of the Pisco Formation along several measured stratigraphic sections; their work provided a rough indication of the fossil distribution, only reporting a non-exhaustive list of fossils, some of which were not correctly placed along the stratigraphic sections (Lambert & Muizon, 2014).…”