Rio delle Foglie
The smallest of the nine UNESCO site is the Rio Delle Foglie (Leaves River). The area covers 271 hectares and is bordered by two villages, Aldino and Redagno in South Tyrol. These two villages are located just south of Bolzano and opposite each other, from Mount Pausabella to Olcina Pass. They delimit what is the real canyon of the Rio delle Foglie. This site is a deep gorge up to 400 meters and dug into the river that bears the name of this UNESCO site. The slow erosion, which has lasted for millennia, has carved the gorge, about eight kilometers long and has brought to light the long geological history of the Dolomites. In the Alps this is a unique place. Only here you can see in so little space, and depicted as if it were an open book, 250 million years written in a succession of layers of rocks. The Horn White, 2.317 meters high is the only major peak in this zone, the remainder of the peaks here are small. The whole area is included in Rio Delle Foglie Geological Park. In the time it was done a remarkable job to exploit this and make something unique from the standpoint of science and nature. A route has been developed with particularly interesting departure from the village of Aldino down to Redagno. In the most interesting places explanatory table were installed. From the lower Permian to Anisian, 16 tables explain clearly and comprehensively million years of our planet. You can almost touch the geological eras, such as the Permian Triassic, when a major event shook the earth, or the disappearance of many species of plants and animals. The geological ages are also represented by the colours of the various rocks outcropping in the various layers, a kind of garden colour of stone. From red to very dark gray, the result of volcanic eruptions more than 250 million years ago, the reddish sandstones and conglomerates, and clays that were formed in different stages which tropical sea had in the Permian era, during his retirement. Precisely in these layers of rock have been found numerous fossils of plants and dinosaur footprints, particularly interesting the entire cast of a small prehistoric reptile. So what is today a beautiful waterfall was formed millions of years ago by a large deposit of cephalopods. Always created by the sea a remarkable series of deposits can be seen, formed by the withdrawal and the subsequent return of water during the various eras. Erosive phases and stages of sedimentation have occurred, the minerals precipitate to the shallow water and evaporation created new layers, they was eroded again and then a new phase of sedimentation created new conglomerates. Rio delle Foglie, even if amazing for its scenery and its environment, it is very important for the witness offering about the earth's history, but only by visiting the South Tyrol Dolomites, and especially this place, you know what I mean. |
