Snail shells could help reconstruct prehistoric cyclones - study
Researchers have discovered that snail shells can serve as biological archives for prehistoric weather patterns, specifically tracking extreme rainfall and cyclone events. By analyzing isotopes and radiocarbon dating in shell bands, scientists can reconstruct historical climate data.
Why it matters
This method provides a new, low-cost tool for climate scientists to understand historical weather patterns and improve climate modeling.
Snails carry weather records on their backs that could be used to map extreme weather events and reconstruct the paths of past cyclones even in prehistoric times, a new study has found. Researchers examined the rings on the shell of a Biggenden Banded Snail collected from Coalstoun Lakes National Park in Australia's southeast Queensland, linking its bands to weather records, according to a statement released Monday by Australia's University of Queensland (UQ). Tiny samples taken from the shell at millimetre intervals were analysed using high-resolution radiocarbon dating, revealing the age of the snail, when it lived and the weather during its lifetime, said Nicholas Patton, lead author of the study published in The Holocene.
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