While hiking, woman stumbles upon a lost world... 280 million years old
In 2023, Claudia Steffensen made a captivating discovery in the Italian Alps: a tropical ecosystem dating back 280 million years, made up of relics of the past such as plant fossils, raindrop tracks and reptile footprints preserved in the rock.
The sharp-eyed hiker has enabled researchers to uncover a veritable paleontological treasure trove of inestimable value, says Futura-sciences. This lost world is located in the Orobie de Valtellina mountain park in Lombardy (northern Italy).
By analyzing the rock, experts were able to confirm the presence of prehistoric reptile footprints. Dubbed “rock zero”, this extinct universe (long before the dinosaurs) has led to many other discoveries. As reported by Futura-sciences, researchers have identified the remains of a complete ecosystem dating from the Permian period, some 280 million years ago. A geological period characterized by rapid climatic warming, which ended in a mass extinction, better known as the “Great Extinction”. Fossilized traces of amphibians, insect and arthropod footprints, remnants of seeds, leaves and stems... scientists have uncovered a veritable catalog of prehistoric existence.
It was the presence of an ancient lake, close to the site, that made this preservation possible. Ausonio Ronchi, palaeontologist at the University of Pavia, explains: “The prints were made when these sandstones and shales were still waterlogged sand and mud on the banks of rivers and lakes, which dried up periodically depending on the season.” Thanks to the fineness of this mud and the grain of this sand, even the claw marks have been preserved.
A discovery that sheds light on the past and warns of the present. Climate change is contributing to the rapid melting of the Alps' glacial cover, revealing some of the wonders of millions of years ago. And, as the researchers point out, these fossils “bear witness to a distant geological period, but with a global warming trend quite similar to that of today”. A period that ended with a mass extinction.
(MH with AsD - Source: Futura-sciences - Illustration: Pixabay)