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80-million-year-old dinosaur eggs found in China
A 280-million-year-old hidden realm was stumbled upon inadvertently by a
a woman during her hike in the Italian Alps
.
In 2023, Claudia Steffensen and her spouse were hiking through the Valtellina Orobie Alps Regional Park in Lombardy when she noticed a light-gray stone adorned with peculiar patterns.
As she took a closer look, she recognized that the patterns were indeed footprints of animals.
Steffensen forwarded images to a scientific group who concluded that the tracks were from
a ancient reptilian creature that traversed the planet
During the Permian period, which came right before the era of dinosaurs.
Upon further exploration of the area, paleontologists uncovered numerous additional fossilized tracks created by at least five different species of prehistoric reptiles, amphibians, and insects.
Although these creatures lived before the dinosaurs, some may have reached sizes of six to twelve feet, according to researchers’ statements.
The team also uncovered imprints of plant fossils – including traces of seeds, leaves and stems – along with imprints of raindrops and waves on the shores of a prehistoric lake.
Co-researcher and trace fossils specialist Lorenzo Marchetti of the Museum of Natural History in
Berlin
said the prints were preserved in ‘impressive’ detail, even down to ‘the imprints of fingernails and the belly skin of some animals.
The intricate details and exceptional preservation of these fossils can be attributed to their close association with water in the past, as the researchers pointed out.
The old ecosystem, which exists at elevations up to 10,000 feet and within valley floors, has been conserved in finely layered sandstone.
Palaeontologists likewise recognized scratch marks and belly imprints left by these creatures.
“The footprints were created when these sandstones and shales were originally layers of wet sand and mud along riverbanks and lake edges, where seasonal fluctuations would cause periodic drying,” explained co-researcher and paleontologist Ausonio Ronchi from the University of Pavia.
statement
.
Ronchi further explained, “The summer sun dried out these areas, causing them to harden so much that when fresh water returned, it didn’t wash away the footprints. Instead, it layered new mud over them, creating a protective cover.”
The Permian epoch extended from 299 million to 252 million years ago.
Throughout this era, the worldwide climate quickly heated up, eventually resulting in a massive extinction event that concluded this phase and wiped out 90 percent of Earth’s species.
Paradoxically, contemporary global warming facilitated the uncovering of this ancient high-altitude environment, since the fossils were previously concealed beneath snowpacks that have now thawed due to the planet’s rising temperatures.
“The findings in the Ambria Valley can be attributed to climate change as well,” said Doriano Codega, who serves as the president of the Valtellina Orobie nature park.
The Guardian
.
‘The exceptional thing was the altitude – these relics were found at very high levels and were very well preserved. This is an area subjected to landslides, so there were also rock detachments that brought to light these fossils.’
From 1850 onwards, due to human-induced climate change, Alpine glaciers have experienced a reduction of 30 to 40 percent in their surface area and about half of their total volume, with an extra loss of 10 to 20 percent having occurred since 1980, as reported.
Mont-Blanc Research Center for Alpine Ecosystems (CREA)
.
The discovery of these fossils offers a window into an ancient ecosystem decimated by extreme global temperature rise. In this way, it also serves as a reminder of what’s at stake as anthropogenic warming nears catastrophic levels.
“These fossils… provide evidence of a remote geologic era, yet one characterized by a warming pattern strikingly akin to what we’re experiencing now,” the scientists stated.
‘The past holds many lessons about the risks we face as we shape the world today.’
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