Ancient tracks may record stampede of turtles disturbed by earthquake

Strange imprints on a rock in Italy may have been left by a stampede of sea turtles disturbed by an earthquake some 83 million years ago.

Free climbers have discovered unusual features in an area closed to the public on the slopes of Monte Conero on the east coast of Italy.

There are more than 1,000 prints in two locations – one at an altitude of more than 100 meters above sea level, and the second on La Vela Beach. These rocks are composed of limestone that formed from fine sediments on the shallow seabed during the Cretaceous period.

The climbers took photographs that were later shown Alessandro Montanari at the Geological Observatory of Coldigioco in Italy and his colleagues. The scientists then received permission from Conero Regional Park managers to explore the area on foot and using drones.

Montanari says it's impossible to say with certainty which animals made the marks, but at the time, only two groups of vertebrates inhabited the oceans: fish and marine reptiles. The team ruled out fish, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs, leaving sea turtles as the most likely candidates.

Because the seabed is a very dynamic and soft environment, in order for the prints to survive, they would have to be buried almost immediately after they were taken, which could happen during an earthquake.

“[It may have been] a massive earthquake that scared the living daylights out of these poor animals that were hanging around peacefully in the nutrient-rich shallow water environment,” says Montanari.

“They all swam in panic into the open sea to the west of the reef, and some of them reached the muddy seabed, leaving oar marks.”

However, the sea turtle stampede is just a hypothesis, and the team now hopes to recruit ichnologists who study trace fossils such as footprints for the next phase of research.

Anthony Romilio The University of Queensland in Australia says that if the markings are those of sea turtles, they “easily be the most numerous in the world.”

However, without visiting the site and seeing high-quality images, he doubts the prints were made by sea turtles. “The surface markings do not reflect the distance, rhythm or anatomy expected from the flipper movements of sea turtles,” he says. “I am of the opinion that they do not have a biological origin, but are abiotic structures.”

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