Researchers from the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering (IDSSE) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the University of Pisa, Italy, and the National Institute of Water and Atmosphere Research, New Zealand, have now documented the world’s deepest and largest known aggregation of whale fossils and active whale-fall ecosystems. This deep-sea site, referred to as a “whale necropolis” due to its vast size, is located in the Diamantina Zone of the southeastern Indian Ocean and contains evidence of cetacean falls for at least 5.3 million years.

Reservoirs around the world are losing storage capacity at an average rate of 7.3 percent per decade—disproportionately affecting small reservoirs, which together provide water to billions of people. The data come from a study published in Nature Sustainability on June 5, which offers the clearest global assessment of reservoir sedimentation to date.