Every cloud has a silver lining

Even when that cloud is… well… not there. Case in point: 113 million-year-old dinosaur tracks were discovered at Dinosaur Valley State Park in Texas due to severe drought conditions, the park revealed earlier this week.

And it isn’t the first time something like this has happened. Drought conditions around the world have been so extreme this summer that many rivers and lakes are drying up at a record pace, exposing previously undiscovered relics from ancient (and modern) eras.

☀️🌎 A few examples…

• The “Spanish Stonehenge,” a rare megalithic monument from as early as 5,000 B.C., fully emerged this month from the Tagus River in Spain; it’s only been visible four times since 1963.
• A fleet of 20+ Nazi warships carrying tons of explosives and ammunition were exposed last week in eastern Serbia, as the Danube – Europe’s second-longest river – fell to its lowest level in a century.
• An entire lost city from the Bronze Age was temporarily uncovered in Iraq earlier this year after an extreme drought lowered the Tigris River.
• A submerged island containing three statues of Buddha believed to be at least 600 years old was revealed last week due to plunging water levels of China’s Yangtze River.

📸 Big picture: The number of global droughts has jumped 29% since 2000, per UN statistics. China is currently experiencing its longest and most severe drought on record, while Europe is facing its worst drought in 500 years.