{"id":126316,"date":"2024-11-16T00:47:49","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T17:47:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=126316"},"modified":"2024-11-16T00:47:49","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T17:47:49","slug":"ecosystem-that-predates-the-dinosaurs-uncovered-in-the-alps-by-a-hiker-and-melting-snow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=126316","title":{"rendered":"Ecosystem that predates the dinosaurs uncovered in the Alps by a hiker and melting snow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"\">Beneath the snowy slopes lay a prehistoric surprise: an ecosystem that predates the dinosaurs, revealed by melting snow before being stumbled upon by a hiker in the Italian Alps.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The discovery, made public Wednesday,<strong> <\/strong>includes <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/world\/record-breaking-footprint-found-englands-dinosaur-coast-rcna70948\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">well-preserved footprints <\/a>of reptiles and amphibians that scientists say date back 280 million years to a geologic period known as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/science\/environment\/earths-biggest-extinction-due-climate-volcanoes-researchers-n298831\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Permian period<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cDinosaurs had not yet emerged at this time, but the animals responsible for the largest footprints here would still have been impressive, reaching up to 2-3 meters in length,\u201d said Cristiano Dal Sasso, a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in Milan, where the finds are now on display.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/world\/hong-kong-discovers-dinosaur-fossils-first-time-rcna176980\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fossils were discovered<\/a> in the mountains of northern <a href=\"https:\/\/nbcnews.com\/news\/world\/lake-como-can-air-tourist-destination-sale-11-italy-rcna178777\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Italy&#8217;s Lombardy region <\/a>after the snow and ice that once covered them melted away, scientists say, as a result of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/climate-in-crisis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">ongoing climate crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__yAWZ0 styles_medium__OMa6x\"><picture class=\"styles_image__1qciH\" data-testid=\"picture\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2024-11\/241115-italy-fossil-wc-1052-f9df8c.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2024-11\/241115-italy-fossil-wc-1052-f9df8c.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2024-11\/241115-italy-fossil-wc-1052-f9df8c.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2024-11\/241115-italy-fossil-wc-1052-f9df8c.jpg 1x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2024-11\/241115-italy-fossil-wc-1052-f9df8c.jpg\" alt=\"Researchers move a boulder containing fossilized footprints in the Italian Alps. \" height=\"1667\" width=\"2500\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__Pe5JC\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">Researchers move a boulder containing fossilized footprints in the Italian Alps. <\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Elio Della Ferrera \/ Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"\">Claudia Steffensen was hiking along a trail in the Valtellina Orobie mountain range in the summer of 2023 when she stepped on a gray stone marked with unusual patterns.\u201cMy husband was in front of me, looking straight ahead, while I was looking toward my feet. I put my foot on a rock, which struck me as odd as it seemed more like a slab of cement. I then noticed these strange circular designs with wavy lines. I took a closer look and realized they were footprints,\u201d Steffensen told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2024\/nov\/14\/hiker-discovers-first-trace-of-entire-prehistoric-ecosystem-in-italian-alps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the Guardian <\/a>newspaper.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Intrigued, she snapped photos and shared them with her friend, Elio Della Ferrera, a nature photographer. Della Ferrera then contacted Dal Sasso, at the museum in Milan, to learn more about the discovery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Dal Sasso enlisted the expertise of two specialists: Ausonio Ronchi, a professor of stratigraphy at the University of Pavia in Northern Italy, and Lorenzo Marchetti, a fossil expert from the Natural History Museum in Berlin.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Marchetti told NBC News on Friday that he was \u201camazed by the quality and quantity of the material,\u201d and said that while he had studied other Permian sites in the area, none seemed as \u201crich\u201d as this one.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The Permian period immediately predated the dinosaurs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Ronchi said he was also \u201csurprised by the abundance and preservation\u201d of the fossils when he first saw the images.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cIt is the first time we have seen such an amazing variety of vertebrate footprints, invertebrate tracks, imprints of flora, and other fossils,\u201d he said in an email.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cThese footprints were imprinted when the sandstones and clays were still wet,\u201d Ronchi said. \u201cThe summer sun dried those surfaces so thoroughly that when water returned, the footprints weren\u2019t washed away; rather, they were covered by new layers of clay that formed a protective coating.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Continental fossils have previously been found in the Permian sediments of the Southern Alps, but none of this quality.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"styles_inlineImage__yAWZ0 styles_medium__OMa6x\"><picture class=\"styles_image__1qciH\" data-testid=\"picture\"><source media=\"(min-width: 1000px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2024-11\/241115-alps-fossil-graphic-wc-1056-b25c7e.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-560w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2024-11\/241115-alps-fossil-graphic-wc-1056-b25c7e.jpg 1x\"\/><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\" srcset=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_avif,q_auto:eco,dpr_2\/rockcms\/2024-11\/241115-alps-fossil-graphic-wc-1056-b25c7e.jpg 2x, https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2024-11\/241115-alps-fossil-graphic-wc-1056-b25c7e.jpg 1x\"\/><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit-760w,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2024-11\/241115-alps-fossil-graphic-wc-1056-b25c7e.jpg\" alt=\"A computer-generated image shows what prehistoric reptiles could have looked like.\" height=\"1666\" width=\"2500\"\/><\/picture><figcaption class=\"caption styles_caption__Pe5JC\" data-testid=\"caption\"><span class=\"caption__container\" data-testid=\"caption__container\">A computer-generated image shows what prehistoric reptiles could have looked like.<\/span><span class=\"caption__source\" data-testid=\"caption__source\">Fabio Manucci \/ Museo di Storia Naturale di Milano<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p class=\"\">Starting in summer 2023, Della Ferrera and the research team conducted further inspections, photographing and mapping hundreds of fossilized traces across the mountain range, which rises to nearly 10,000 feet above sea level.The first fossils were airlifted out by helicopter last month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">As the fossils lie in the upper part of a mountain valley, which is covered by snow for most of the year, the discoveries are closely <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/climate-in-crisis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">linked to climate change<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Ronchi explained that in recent years, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/science\/environment\/earth-warming-record-rate-climate-change-rcna155709\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">rising temperatures<\/a> have caused the ice to nearly disappear, leaving the debris where the fossils were found exposed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cLast year\u2019s ice is almost gone due to the rising temperatures, which uncovers the debris area where we found the fossils,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">\u201cBlocks of rock fall down from the steep walls of the reliefs as a consequence of cracking and erosion, so we expect to find many more tracks and fossils in the coming years,\u201d Ronchi said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">The research team said that the fossils uncover trends strikingly similar to those we are witnessing today: an intensifying greenhouse effect, melting polar ice and changing ecosystems.<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">These environmental shifts contributed to the extinction of many species, which we may now encounter as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/science\/science-news\/stegosaurus-skeleton-fossil-sells-record-44-million-auction-rcna162357\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">fossils<\/a> on a fortunate hike.<\/p>\n<p class=\"endmark\">\u201cThe past has much to teach us about what we risk doing to the world today,\u201d the researchers warned.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script>\r\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\r\n     style=\"display:block\"\r\n     data-ad-format=\"fluid\"\r\n     data-ad-layout-key=\"-fb+5w+4e-db+86\"\r\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     data-ad-slot=\"7910942971\"><\/ins>\r\n<script>\r\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\r\n<\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1660802\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/world\/fossils-predates-dinosaurs-uncovered-italy-alps-hiker-melting-snow-rcna180300\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Beneath the snowy slopes lay a prehistoric surprise: an ecosystem that predates the dinosaurs, revealed by melting snow before being stumbled upon by a hiker in the Italian Alps. The &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/?p=126316\" class=\"more-link\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8628],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-science","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126316","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=126316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126316\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=126316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=126316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hotvideos24.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=126316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}