Practice and Prospects in Underwater Palaeontology
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Palaeontologia Electronica palaeo-electronica.org Practice and prospects in underwater palaeontology Julien Louys ABSTRACT Underwater deposits, especially those in phreatic caves, often contain exquisitely preserved fossils, and many represent Quaternary Konservat-Lagerstätten. Neverthe- less, they are unrecognised as such by most practicing palaeontologists. This review highlights the unique contributions to palaeontology made by underwater deposits as well as the technical and practical challenges facing underwater palaeontologists. Recovery of fossils from such deposits requires specialist training, equipment, and pro- cedures unique to these environments. Taphonomic studies of underwater assem- blages are rare and hampered by difficulties in fossil recovery. Neotaphonomic experiments and observations of modern accumulations in underwater settings should be a priority for future research. Regions where such techniques might provide import- ant new insights into Quaternary faunas and environments, not accessible through tra- ditional palaeontological approaches, include low-lying flooded continental shelves and soil-poor karstic landscapes. Underwater palaeontology represents a largely unex- plored yet significant source of fossils, further study of which will expand and enrich tra- ditional approaches in the study of ancient organisms. Julien Louys. Australian Research Center for Human Evolution, Environmental Futures Research Institute, Griffith University, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. [email protected] Keywords: diving; cave; sinkhole; taphonomy; vertebrate palaeontology; Lagerstätten Submission: 14 December 2017 Acceptance: INTRODUCTION and organisms. To date, fossils have been recov- ered from the phreatic zone (drowned or flooded) The discoveries of spectacularly well-pre- of caves and sinkholes, lakes, and continental served fossils from underwater settings across dif- shelves and margins that have undergone marine ferent continents hint at a vastly underexplored transgression. They have been reported from environment for evidence of ancient biodiversities Louys, Julien. 2018. Practice and prospects in underwater palaeontology. Palaeontologia Electronica 21.2.22A 1-14. https://doi.org/ 10.26879/840 palaeo-electronica.org/content/2018/2239-underwater-palaeontology Copyright: June 2018 Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ LOUYS: UNDERWATER PALAEONTOLOGY across the globe, including Australia, Indonesia, the 1930s, originally by glass bottom buckets and the United States, Canada, the Bahamas, Mexico, picking fossils from river beds, and later by profes- the Antilles, Brazil, Chile, the North Sea, and Mad- sional divers undertaking excavations on behalf of agascar. archaeologists (Simpson, 1930 in Brooks, 1965; The first to explicitly address underwater Dunbar et al., 1989; Webb, 2006). Early reports of study as important for palaeontology was the underwater cave fossils recovered with scuba gear French philosopher Benoît de Maillet, who in 1797 in 1968 concerned the discovery of various marsu- described diving gear and techniques for underwa- pial fossils from Green Waterhole Cave (also ter observation of animals and sediments, relating known as Fossil Cave; Figure 1) in the Mt Gambier these to fossils (de Maillet, 1797, cited in Brooks, region of South Australia (“South-East has Tourist 1965). The invention of self-contained breathing Attraction Underground” The Border Watch, 27 apparatus (scuba) greatly assisted all forms of February 1968, cited in Pledge, 1980). This site, as underwater exploration. Other techniques well as numerous others in the Mt Gambier area, employed in the early years of underwater palae- eventually produced hundreds of incredibly well- ontology, including using oceanographic equip- preserved fossils of extinct and extant marsupial ment, cofferdams, air cambers, and glass bottom remains (Pledge, 1980; Reed and Bourne, 2000) buckets (Brooks, 1965) have largely if not entirely been abandoned since the introduction of and technical and safety improvements to scuba sys- tems. These improvements permit the exploration of underwater environments previously deemed too dangerous or too difficult to access, as well as a more systematic approach to fossil recoveries. The other major means of recovery underwater fossils, dredging, continues to produce tonnes of fossils per year (Post, cited in Bailey and Flem- ming, 2008), although necessarily these are col- lected with extremely limited contextual information. Many underwater sites have produced exam- ples of “the most complete” or “the largest collec- tion” of various extant and extinct mammals, particularly those reported from underwater caves. While all caves are renowned for their preservation of complete or large collections (e.g., Harris, 2005; Jass and George, 2010; Price et al., 2017), fossils situated in continuously or near-continuous under- water environments are much less subject to post- depositional disturbance by biotic and abiotic agents that can disturb or destroy elements (for example, porcupines and flood events, respec- tively; Louys et al., 2017). Thus, the underwater environment can provide an additional level of preservation, complementing other environmental factors commonly found in above-water cave deposits, which increase the likelihood that fossils will be articulated and well preserved. The rivers and natural springs of Florida have FIGURE 1. Green Waterhole Cave in Mt Gambier, produced several complete or near-complete South Australia. This site has produced many exqui- mammoth and mastodon skeletons (Webb, 1976), sitely preserved Pleistocene fossils, mostly of large as well as hundreds of isolated specimens of ter- kangaroos. 1. Overview of the site, arrow indicates the restrial and aquatic vertebrates (Webb and cave entrance from which most fossils were extracted. Simons, 2006). Many have been recovered from 2. View from arrow into cave entrance, showing current natural springs and rivers in Florida since at least water level and beginning of talus cone. 2 PALAEO-ELECTRONICA.ORG including some of the first complete skulls of the tice approaches for underwater palaeontology are extinct kangaroo Simosthenurus. presented. The focus here is on non-anthropogenic Other sites around the world have been accumulations of vertebrate remains. A well-devel- equally productive. Aven Cave in Madagascar pro- oped body of literature exists for the study of sub- duced the largest assemblage of fossil lemurs ever merged archaeological sites, including some discovered (Rosenberger et al., 2015). La Jeringa addressing zooarchaeological remains (e.g., Bell in Parque del Este, Hispaniola, produced the first and Elkerton, 2008, Greenfield et al., 2006, Dun- and most complete specimen of the primate Antil- bar, 2006). Likewise, the forensic analysis of lothrix bernensis (Rosenberger et al., 2011) in underwater environments is a growing field of addition to numerous sloth and rodent remains research (e.g., Becker, 2013). Although some over- (Cooke, 2011). Oleg’s Bat House Cave in Hispan- lap exists between forensics and palaeontology, iola produced a diverse bat assemblage as well as the decay of bodies underwater is not specifically several almost complete crocodile skeletons of a discussed here, nor are taphonomic investigations new species to the island (Cooke, 2011). Underwa- of shipwrecked sites. This review is primarily con- ter dredging of the North Sea has produced thou- cerned with the deposition, preservation, and sands of fossils, extinct proboscideans being recovery of vertebrate remains in underwater set- particularly noteworthy (Mol et al., 1999). Stiva tings, which to date appear confined to Quaternary Cave, a marine cave system situated off the coast deposits. Fossils native to underwater systems, of Bali, has preserved several large-bodied mam- such as the corals making up the limestone of karst mals from the surface of the cave sediments regions hosting caves or the lithified shell beds of including deer and elephants (Harbowo et al., marine systems, are not discussed. 2017). Medium- and large-bodied species, includ- ing fossil tayassuids (peccaries) were recovered GEOLOGICAL CONTEXTS from Caverna do Japonês and Nascente do For- Underwater fossil deposits largely occur in moso in Brazil (Dutra et al., 2017; Salles et al., two main contexts: the phreatic zone of caves 2006). On the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico, in addi- (inclusive of sinkholes, caverns, cenotes, and blue tion to several underwater human burial sites, four holes) and low-lying continental shelves. Underwa- flooded palaeontological sites have been recorded ter sites from the Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico, Mad- preserving horses, camelids, giant armadillos, agascar, Brazil, Bahamas, Florida, and Australia tapirs, and proboscideans (González González et are all examples of the former. The extent of phre- al., 2008). atic zones in caves and sinkholes are controlled by Unusual for underwater sites, Sawmill Sink in groundwater levels, in turn a function of stream the Bahamas produced not only exceptionally flows and channel geometries at the local scale, well-preserved mammal remains but also macro- and regionally precipitation and sea level (particu- and micro-plant fossils from a peat sequence