DOLOMITES-UNESCO: THE SETTENTRIONALI, THE LARGEST GROUP
TRENTO - A group of mountains in Italy's Dolomite range contains fossil records of international significance documenting the recovery of life after the Permian-Triassic extinction, also known as the Great Dying, say earth scientists.
Field investigations by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) also found the most complete sequence of geological rock striations in the Dolomites and important prehistoric reef and plant fossil remains.
Covering 55,586 hectares in the provinces of Trento, Bolzano and Belluno, the Dolomiti Settentrionali-Noerdliche Dolomiten are the largest of the nine mountain groups included in Italy's application for its Dolomite mountain range to be named a United Nations World Heritage Site. These mountains are often referred to in both Italian and German, the two languages spoken in the area. In 1972 an international treaty to identify and protect cultural and natural heritage was adopted by the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The mission to preserve the world's heritage sites with outstanding value to humanity is carried out by the World Heritage Committee, scheduled to rule on the Dolomites by the end of June.
Italy moved a step closer to its goal of getting its famous mountains a spot on the prestigious World Heritage List in May when the IUCN, the committee's technical advisor on natural sites, endorsed its 2008 application. Nine mountain groups have been selected as representative of two UNESCO criteria: superlative natural phenomena and outstanding examples representing major stages of the earth's history.
The most famous Dolomite chains are part of this fifth group in the Italian bid: the Sesto-Sextner Dolomites, the Cadini chain, the Braies-Prags mountains, the Fanes and Sennes plateaus, the Tofane chain, Monte Cristallo and the Dolomiti Cadorine. The valleys surrounding the group are the Val Pusteria, the Val di Sesto, the Val Badia and the Valle di San Cassiano in Alto Adige and the Val Piave and Val Boite in the province of Belluno. Geological stratifications in the Settentrionali Dolomites range from metamorphic basement layers deposited in the early Palaeozoic era to the more recent Oligocene and Miocene epochs.
The group is rich with fossils, including large shells, footprints from prehistoric reptiles and extinct plants. The very white Sesto Dolomites are part of the Dolomiti di Sesto Nature Park, created by the province of Alto Adige in 1981 and including famous peaks like the Paterno, the distinctive Tre Cime di Lavaredo-Drei Zinnen, the Rondoi-Baranci-Birkenkofel and the Tre Scarperi-Drei Schuster. With the neighbouring Cadini chain they make up the northeast corner of the Dolomites, characterized by very high peaks rising from rocky plateaus more than 2,000 metres above sea level.
The highest summits are the Cima Dodici-Zwoelfer Kofel at 3,094 metres, and the Punta Tre Scarperi-Dreischusterspitze at 3,152 metres. To the south is Monte Cristallo (3,221 metres), the symbol and pride of the popular resort town Cortina d'Ampezzo. The highest peak in the Ampezzo valley, Monte Cristallo provides a stunning backdrop for Cortina and offers visitors an incomparable panorama from its summit. To the west, separated by the unspoilt Val di Landro, the Braies Dolomites, part of the Bolzano province's Fanes-Sennes-Braies Nature Park, surround the emerald green Braies Lake set in a massive stone basin.
Considered by many to be one of the most enchanting places in the Dolomites, local legend has it that the south end of the lake protects a hidden gate to the underworld. To the southwest, beyond the high Falzarego Pass, the jagged ridge of the isolated Settsass chain rises out of gently rolling pastureland.
The Settsass gained renown in the 1800s as an important site for geological studies on the formation of the Dolomites. The eminent scholar Ferdinand van Richthoften published a treatise in 1860 on the theory that the chain originated as coral reefs surrounding prehistoric lagoons.
The Piccolo Settsass, renamed the Richthofen Reef, is a separate formation whose fossil-rich beds were the basis of the ground-breaking theory. The southeast part of this complex is dominated by three massifs that are part of the Dolomiti Cadorine: the Sorapis (3,205 metres) the Marmarole, and the Antelao, which at 3,264 metres is second only to the Marmolada, the Queen of the Dolomites.
