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Palaeontology: How dinosaurs shaped the landscape
New study shows: Prehistoric giants were probably the first landscape architects on Earth.
Dinosaurs were not only the rulers of their time, they also probably shaped the face of our planet far more than previously assumed. A recent study by US researchers suggests that these animals, weighing several tonnes, shaped entire river systems through their mere existence, acting as gigantic ‘ecosystem engineers’.
Giants with geological impact
It has long been known that the Earth’s rock layers differ significantly before and after the mass extinction of the dinosaurs. Until now, experts have explained these changes with climatic upheavals, rising sea levels or the consequences of the meteorite impact on the Mexican peninsula of Yucatán around 66 million years ago.
But palaeontologist Luke Weaver from the University of Michigan and his research team are pursuing a different line of inquiry. Together with Tom Tobin (University of Alabama) and Courtney Sprain (University of Florida), he has come to the conclusion that the sheer weight and movements of dinosaurs may have played a decisive role in how rivers and forests developed during the Cretaceous period.
‘Many dinosaurs weighed several tonnes – even smaller species weighed around a tonne,’ explains Weaver. ‘Simply by constantly wandering around, they probably prevented dense forest growth and kept large, open areas clear.’ This likely created wide, flat landscapes where water often collected and overflowed its banks unhindered – ideal conditions for dynamic, constantly changing river systems.
When giants disappear – and forests grow
The sudden extinction of the dinosaurs dramatically altered this balance. Without the constant disturbance caused by heavy herbivores and predators, forests were able to spread unhindered. Dense vegetation in turn led to rivers becoming more stable: sediments were deposited more heavily, sandbanks formed, and wide meander belts developed.
According to the study, which was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment, these changes can be clearly seen in the rock strata at the transition from the Cretaceous to the Palaeogene period – an era formerly known as the Tertiary period.
Evidence in the rock
Among other areas, the Williston Basin, which stretches from eastern Montana to South Dakota, was examined. There, the researchers encountered coloured sediment layers that had long been interpreted as deposits from ponds following a rise in sea level.
‘But the structure of these layers is more like the interior of a large river meander,’ says Weaver. The researchers analysed a distinctive reddish clay layer located precisely at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary – the boundary at which the meteorite impact occurred. In this layer, they found the characteristic iridium anomaly, a chemical signal that indicates the event worldwide.
The result: at this very spot, the rock formations changed – from swampy, poorly developed soils to clearly structured river deposits. For the researchers, this is clear evidence that the landscapes only took on their present form after the disappearance of the dinosaurs.
Life shapes landscape
For Weaver and his team, this is a strong argument that dinosaurs were more than just part of their environment; they actively shaped it. ‘These animals were the landscape architects of their time,’ says the researcher. ‘It was only after they disappeared that dense forests and stable rivers were able to flourish.’
Geoscientist Sprain also emphasises the importance of this finding: ‘Changes in the environment are often explained solely by climate fluctuations. In doing so, we forget that life itself – animals, plants, entire ecosystems – can have a massive impact on the landscape.’
Lessons for the present
The study not only provides new insights into the Earth’s prehistory, but also serves as a warning for the future. The extinction of the dinosaurs led to a fundamental transformation of ecosystems. Similarly profound changes could also threaten us today, triggered by man-made climate change and the loss of biodiversity.
‘The extinction of the dinosaurs shows how closely life and landscape are intertwined,’ says Weaver. ‘When we lose species, we inevitably change the Earth itself.’
The researchers suspect that similar geological patterns can be found not only in North America, but worldwide – an indication that dinosaurs were indeed the first great landscape architects of our planet.
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