Geology and petrochemistry of recent (25 ka) silicic volcanism at Pantelleria Island

built a complex sequence of interfingered deposits emitted by closely spaced eruptive vents which are frequently associated with dome-building phases and pantelleritic lavas flows. Field relationships allowed us to recognize eight eruptive units, all lying above the Montagna Grande trachytes. As a whole, petrochemical characteristics of the erupted products indicate an evolutionary trend in which Na-clinopyroxene was the liquidus phase, followed by alkali feldspar. Amphibole and quartz are late-crystallizing, whereas aenigmatite is both early- and late-crystallizing as well. Aenigmatite and Na-clinopyroxene crystallization buffers efficiently the increase of agpaicity, induced by feldspar c…

A revision of the structure and stratigraphy of pre-Green Tuff ignimbrites at Pantelleria (Strait of Sicily)

International audience; At Pantelleria, peralkaline silicic magmas were erupted across a range of eruptive typologies and magnitudes: pyroclastic flows, Plinian to strombolian pumice fallout and lava flows. In this paper we focus on the intermediate cycle of eruptive activity which is bracketed by ignimbrite units slightly older than the two caldera collapses which marked the volcanological activity of the island. This age interval (180-85 ka) was punctuated by six ignimbrite-forming eruptions (silicic and variably peralkaline) for a cumulative erupted magma volume of approximately 6 km3 dense rock equivalent. Based on new 40Ar/39Ar (Na,K)-feldspar ages and petrographic data, we propose an …

TEPHROCRONOLOGY WITH 40AR–39AR DATING OF RECENT SILICIC VOLCANISM AT PANTELLERIA ISLAND: IMPLICATIONS ON MAGMATIC SYSTEM.

High-resolution 40Ar/39Ar chronostratigraphy of the post-caldera (<20 ka) volcanic activity at Pantelleria, Sicily Strait

Abstract The island of Pantelleria (Sicily Strait), the type locality for pantellerite, has been the locus of major caldera-forming eruptions that culminated, ca. 50 ka ago, in the formation of the Cinque Denti caldera produced by the Green Tuff eruption. The post-caldera silicic activity since that time has been mostly confined inside the caldera and consists of smaller-energy eruptions represented by more than twenty coalescing pantelleritic centers structurally controlled by resurgence and trapdoor faulting of the caldera floor. A high-resolution 40Ar/39Ar study was conducted on key units spanning the recent (post-20 ka) intracaldera activity to better characterize the present-day status…