We are drilling throughout the dawn of the dinosaurs!

14.10.2024

A joint project between the universities of Ferrara, Padova and Trieste studies in detail the climate crisis which coincided with the spread of dinosaurs over the supercontinent Pangaea.

Right now, in the wonderful scenario of the Dolomites UNESCO heritage site, a drilling is ongoing through the rocks that record the "Carnian pluvial episode". The project, funded by the Italian Ministry for University and Research, aims at recovering a rock core to study in extreme detail the climate changes that occurred in the Carnian, some 234-232 millions of years ago.

The work conditions do seem like we are living in a pluvial episode! But we are positive that we will soon have extraordinary data to reconstruct the climate of the past.

If you wish to know more about the Carnian pluvial episode, check out this paper (open access)