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Bathymetric anomalies in the Neogene fossil record: The role of diving marine birds

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 April 2016

David R. Lindberg  and
Michael G. Kellogg
David R. Lindberg
Affiliation:
Center for Coastal Marine Studies, University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064
Michael G. Kellogg
Affiliation:
Moss Landing Marine Laboratories, Moss Landing, California 95039
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Abstract

Associations of bathymetrically anomalous fossils, a phenomenon particularly common in shallow-water, marine, Neogene faunas of the northeastern Pacific, have yet to be explained adequately. No known physical transport processes can selectively move species upslope from deep water into diverse nearshore, shallow-water habitats. Previously proposed biological explanations are based on undocumented phenomena. We document bathymetric anomalies in Recent mollusc accumulations on Southeast Farallon Island, California, that are created by the activities of diving marine birds. Application of these observations to patterns in the Neogene fossil record is direct, involving the same genera and often the same species. We argue that the process has occurred since at least the Miocene when diving marine birds radiated rapidly, probably in response to trophic resources created by intensive upwelling (Lipps and Mitchell 1976) and that they could have transported specimens upslope in sufficient quantity to have contributed anomalous species to the Neogene fossil record. Specific examples from the literature are discussed.

Type
Articles
Information
Paleobiology , Volume 8 , Issue 4 , Fall 1982 , pp. 402 - 407
Copyright
Copyright © The Paleontological Society 

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