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Strontium isotope evidence for the age of Eocene fossil whales of Kutch, western India

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 February 2010

VADLAMANI RAVIKANT  and
S. BAJPAI
VADLAMANI RAVIKANT*
Affiliation:
Institute Instrumentation Centre, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee-247667, India
S. BAJPAI
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee-247667, India
*
*Author for correspondence: ravikant.vadlamani@gmail.com
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Abstract

The Indian subcontinent is widely considered to be the birthplace of whales (Cetacea), and the middle Eocene Harudi Formation of Kutch has long been known to be a major source of early whales. The Kutch cetaceans are of critical importance in understanding the evolutionary transition of whales from land to sea. Strontium isotope analysis of marine biogenic carbonates from the Harudi Formation was conducted to obtain a numerical age of the whale-bearing strata. Although the measured 87Sr/86Sr ratios (0.707742 to 0.707764) correspond to two distinct age clusters of 46–47.5 Ma or 41–42.5 Ma, we prefer the latter, late Lutetian, age cluster.

Keywords

strontium isotope stratigraphymolluscsCetaceaLutetianHarudi FormationKutch
Type
Rapid Communication
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 147 , Issue 3 , May 2010 , pp. 473 - 477
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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