ROME: Thousands of dinosaur footprints have been found in Italy’s Stelvio National Park on an almost vertical rockface at a height of more than 2,000 metres, palaeontologist Christiano Dal Sasso of Milan’s Natural History Museum said on Tuesday, German Press Agency (dpa) reported.
“It’s a proper Dinosaur Valley that stretches for kilometres – the largest find in the Alps and one of the richest in the world,” he said.
According to researchers, the footprints derive from the Triassic Period, more than 200 million years ago, and are thought to have been left by long-necked herbivores apparently moving in large herds.
The tracks are up to 40 centimetres wide and show clear traces of claws.
They are located in the Valle di Fraele valley near Bormio, where the next Winter Olympics are to be held in February.
During the Triassic Period, a warm lagoon provided an ideal environment for dinosaurs. Researchers believe the prints were created by a species called Plateosaurus when the surface was soft and marshy. It has since hardened, with the anatomical details of the feet recognisable.
“It is an enormous scientific legacy that will take decades to research,” Dal Sasso said, adding the find is in inaccessible terrain that can in part only be investigated by drone.
The fact that the footprints are on an almost vertical face adds to the difficulties. The originally level surface has been lifted by geological deformation. – BERNAMA-dpa
