Mountain photographer stumbles on one of the largest ever collections of Triassic dinosaur prints

[usonian]

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/photographer-finds-thousands-of-triassic-dinosaur-prints-on-sheer-mountain/

Last September photographer Elio Della Ferrera spotted thousands of dinosaur tracks traversing vertical rock faces in the Fraele Valley of Stelvio National Park, high in the Italian Alps. Some of the prints, spanning as many as 40 centimeters across, date back about 210 million years, making the newly identified site one of the richest deposits of Triassic dinosaur tracks in the world.

The footprints are so well preserved that “it took me a few seconds to realize the photos were real,” says paleontologist Cristiano Dal Sasso of the Natural History Museum of Milan, who is leading the investigation of the site. “Now we can go back in time and study the evolution of dinosaurs in this place.”

In a preliminary study, Dal Sasso and his team deduced that the prints were made by herds of large, herbivorous dinosaurs, probably prosauropods, ancestors of Jurassic sauropods such as Brontosaurus. The tracks formed when dinosaurs walked across muddy tidal flats along the shores of the prehistoric Tethys Ocean, long before the Alps rose.

Studying this newly named “Triassic Park” will be challenging because it is so difficult to access, Dal Sasso says—researchers will have to rely on drones and remote sensing to study and digitally preserve the footprints.

The photographer always gets there FIRST!



Edit to add, the second photo is Alex Honnold free-climbing El Capitan. And the photographer who got there first, with a little help from friends, cables, ladders and safety belts.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. That has to be a daunting trek, up that STEEP mountainside!

I'm thrilled to read about the discovery and grateful for the intrepid folks who undertake studying the area.

Thanks for the news, my dear usonian.

[usonian]

2. The first photo is in Italy.

The second is Alex Honnold free-climbing El Capitan. I saw this and was amazed at the photo perch, let alone the climb.

It reminded me that the photographer records events for history, and in some occasions, we know that history is in the making.

Someone else, this time!!!

Best wishes for your health and happiness.

[George McGovern]

3. Fascinating usonian! The discovery and the photograph. According to googleimages --

"This photograph captures adventure photographer Corey Rich capturing promotional footage of renowned free-climber Alex Honnold.
Location: The scene was captured during a climb on the 5.12c Equinox route in Joshua Tree National Park, California.
Technique: To get the ideal angle, the photographer secured an aluminum ladder perpendicular to the rock face and stood on its end.
Purpose: The image was taken while shooting a promotional video for the Nikon D4 camera.
Context: This demonstrates the extreme measures adventure photographers take to get iconic action shots."

One comment from a viewer declares "Don't want to be nicknamed "Splat" don't go up there. Gravity wins all the time."

[usonian]

4. You done your research.

All I had was the one photo.

I don't get anything from Nikon for my promotions here, limited as they are.

You and others should be getting money from Olympus (not the mountain)

Anyway, even though all my old lenses work fine on the new mirrorless, I went to get the old Nikon F2 repaired and that was sticker shock, so I got a new refurbished one, an FM, for less than the repair cost, which was the last Nikon until the mirrorless models to take the old "non-AI" lenses.

More later on this "back to the future" exercise.