Melting snows reveal pre-dinosaur ecosystem in Italian Alps

In the Italian Alps, melting snow and ice have unveiled a 280-million-year-old fossilized ecosystem, predating the age of dinosaurs. The remarkable discovery includes hundreds of well-preserved footprints of reptiles, amphibians, and insects from the Permian period. 

The discovery was first made in the summer of 2023 by hiker Claudia Steffensen while exploring the Val d'Ambria in the Valtellina Orobie mountain range at an altitude of 1,700 meters (5,577 feet). Steffensen noticed unusual patterns on a gray stone that resembled footprints. "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," she recalled in an interview with NBC News.

Intrigued, she snapped photos of the footprints and shared them with her friend, nature photographer Elio Della Ferrera. Recognizing the potential significance of the discovery, Della Ferrera contacted paleontologist Cristiano Dal Sasso at the Natural History Museum of Milan. The images were transmitted to the museum's paleontologists for further analysis.

Dal Sasso consulted with other experts, including Professor of Stratigraphy Ausonio Ronchi from the University of Pavia and fossil expert Lorenzo Marchetti from the Leibniz Institute for Research on Evolution and Biodiversity in Berlin. "Dinosaurs did not yet exist at that time, but the authors of the largest footprints found here must have been still considerable in size: up to 2-3 meters in length," Dal Sasso said, according to IFLScience.

Since the discovery, a team of researchers, including Della Ferrera, has been photographing and mapping hundreds of fossil footprints at nearly 3,000 meters altitude. Embedded within slabs of sandstone, the footprints of at least five different animal species have been identified, including tetrapods such as reptiles and amphibians, and invertebrates like insects and arthropods. The exceptionally fine grain of the sediments has allowed for the preservation of impressive details, such as imprints of fingertips and even the belly skin of some animals.

Marchetti expressed his amazement at the site. While he had studied other Permian sites in the area, none seemed as rich as this one. "The very fine grain of the sediments, now petrified, has allowed the preservation of sometimes impressive details, such as the imprints of the fingertips and the belly skin of some animals," he explained, according to IFLScience.

In addition to animal footprints, the rock contains plant fossils of leaves, stem fragments, and seeds. Imprinted ripples of waves from the shores of ancient lakes, as well as marks of water such as raindrops that fell on the mud before it turned to stone, have been found embedded in the sandstone. "Marks of water have also been found, such as ripples of waves on the shores of ancient lakes or raindrops that fell on the mud before it turned to stone," according to DW.

The preserved ecosystem ended up at the top of a mountain due to colossal geological forces of Earth. Tens of millions of years ago, the African and Eurasian tectonic plates slowly collided, causing layers of rock that had settled on the bed of the ancient Tethys Sea to crumple up into the vast chain of mountains known as the Alps. Embedded within these layers are the footprints found 1,700 meters above sea level, in an area that is covered by snow for most of the year.

The discovery has been made possible due to the effects of climate change on the region's glaciers and snowcaps. Rising temperatures have caused the ice to nearly disappear, leaving the debris where the fossils were found exposed. Ronchi explained, "Last year's ice is almost gone due to the rising temperatures, which uncovers the debris area where we found the fossils," according to NBC News. He added, "Blocks 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."

The researchers emphasized the parallels between the environmental shifts of the Permian period and those occurring today. Stefano Rossi from the Superintendency of Archaeology, Fine Arts and Landscape commented, "These fossils bear witness to a distant geological period, but with a global warming trend completely analogous to that of today, with an increase in the greenhouse effect (then caused by immense volcanic eruptions), melting of the polar ice caps, and the development of highly seasonal and increasingly arid tropical environments, which at the time favored reptiles over amphibians and caused the extinction of many other animals," according to IFLScience.

They warned about the lessons the past holds for the present. "The past has much to teach us about what we risk doing to the world today," the researchers asserted, according to NBC News. The environmental shifts during the Permian period contributed to the extinction of many species, which are now encountered as fossils.

This chance discovery underscores the unintended consequences of climate change, as melting ice reveals long-lost artifacts of the distant past. As the snow and ice recede, they uncover not only the footprints of ancient animals but also a stark warning about the potential impacts of current environmental changes. The researchers continue to study the site, hoping to uncover more fossils and gain further insights into prehistoric life and environmental conditions.

This article was written in collaboration with generative AI company Alchemiq