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83 Million-Year-Old Turtle Stampede Frozen in Time
2 Dec
Summary
- Ancient marine reptiles left millions of years old flipper marks.
- Fossils found on Italy's Cònero Riviera suggest a mass escape.
- An earthquake likely triggered the prehistoric sea turtle stampede.
Eighty-three million years ago, the Italian Cònero Riviera was a bustling marine ecosystem. Its ancient sea turtles and marine reptiles left behind an astonishing record of a mass panic. Climbers in 2019 stumbled upon countless footprints embedded in the limestone cliffs, later identified as a stampede.
The discovery by paleontologists suggests these tracks, resembling flipper marks, were made by a large group of marine vertebrates fleeing an impending disaster. Researchers hypothesize a sudden earthquake likely triggered the panicked flight, causing them to swim frantically away from the seafloor.
This dramatic event was instantly preserved as calcilutitic fluxoturbidite buried the soft sediment, creating the unique fossilized escape route. The find offers an unparalleled glimpse into the behavior and environment of prehistoric marine life.
