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Climbers have discovered grooves in a rock face in Italy that may be evidence of turtle trampling. . |Image credit: Paolo Sandroni
Rock climbers in Italy have stumbled upon evidence of a turtle stampede that occurred nearly 80 million years ago. Now, new research suggests these ancient marine reptiles were fleeing earthquakes.
Climbers recognized the significance of the discovery because grooves in the rock face of Mount Conero, which overlooks the Adriatic Sea, reminded them of what others had discovered. headlines earlier that year. The grooves were found in another part of the same regional park and were attributed to a Cretaceous marine reptile pressing its paddles into the seafloor. They consulted fellow climber and geologist Paolo Sandroni, who contacted Alessandro MontanariDirector of the Cordigioco Geological Observatory (OGC).
After investigating what these grooves might be, the researchers published their findings in a study published Nov. 19 in the journal Cretaceous Research.
Sandroni and another member of the team crawled back into the area to collect rock samples and used drones to document the scene.
Study co-author Montanari told Live Science that hundreds of such tracks lie on the Scaglia Rossa limestone formation in Conero Regional Park, which has been extensively studied for decades and preserves millions of years of deep-sea sediments.
He said part of what is now the mountain range was once deep seafloor that was folded and pushed upward by tectonic forces millions of years ago. Rock samples collected and analyzed by the team above the tracks revealed important clues about the location of the tracks and the story behind them. For example, they believe sea turtles lived during the late Cretaceous period, about 79 million years ago, and suggest that the limestone was formed in part by the collapse of underwater mud. earthquake.
The abundant seismicity in this formation is also supported by decades collective study. Thin sections of rock samples reveal microfossils of organisms that lived on the seafloor, suggesting a seafloor environment hundreds of meters deep.
Researchers say the grooves appear to be the result of turtles fleeing earthquakes that trigger underwater avalanches. |Image credit: Paolo Sandroni
Typically, any traces left behind by animals are swept away by ocean currents and “worms, clams and [other] Montanari said. “They were basically gardens under the sea.” But he said the earthquakes preserved them by triggering underwater avalanches within minutes of leaving their traces.
During the Late Cretaceous, the only vertebrates capable of leaving these tracks were marine reptiles such as sea turtles, plesiosaurs, and Mosasaurus. The latter two species were mostly solitary, but if ancient sea turtles behaved like some species today, they may have foraged near the coast or left the water to lay their eggs, the researchers said. Whatever brought them together, the team said in the study, the earthquake caused them to immediately flee, forcing some turtles to swim on the surface toward the open ocean while others scurried away. closer to the deeper ocean floor. An impending underwater avalanche pushes them further away.
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Michael BentonA professor of vertebrate paleontology at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom, who was not involved in the study, said the study clearly showed a geological context, but he questioned which animal left the tracks.
“These traces are unusual because they appear to show a punt underwater, with both forelimbs entering the sediment together and the animal propelling forward,” he told Live Science. Most vertebrates, he said, tend to “walk or swim with their limbs out of sequence,” rather than having both limbs down at the same time. “Sea turtles typically have a very efficient swimming pattern,” he said, “kind of like underwater flight with the front paddle spinning,” similar to a figure-eight pattern, which seemed inconsistent with the traces found. He also questioned why they didn’t simply “leave the seabed and swim away.”
While the tracks would benefit from further study, Montanari said it was clear from a geological perspective that the earthquake triggered the underwater avalanche. He said he hopes their work will prompt fossil experts to further study the site.