Skarnoid rocks in the high-grade metamorphic terraines of the Larderia area (Messina), Peloritani Mountains

Orthopyroxene gabbro of continental tholeiitic magma from mesozoic Sicanian formations of western Sicily (Italy)

Some unreliable interpretations of statistical chemical correlations in applied earth science and in archaeometry

The origin of othopyroxene megacrysts in the eocene alkali basalts of C.da Pietranera (western Sicily)

Contribution to the reconstruction of geological evolution of the metamorphic basement of the Cordillera Darwin, Tierra del Fuego, Chile.

The crystalline pre-Andine basement outcrops only in the Cordillera Darwin (Tierra del Fuego) in the extreme southern part of Andean belt. It is located between the Antarctic, Nazca and Scotia Plate. Cordillera Darwin breaks the long ophiolitic belt constituted by the Sarmiento Complex and Rocas Verdes; many authors agree that the present setting is the result of the Andean orogenesis, that yielded to the closure of a Jurassic marginal basin (now represented by ophiolites) with its overlying sequence of rhyolitic volcanic and volcanoclastic rocks, now represented by the Tobifera Formation and metamorphism during Cretaceous (Cunningham, 1995 and references). The studied rocks, sampled by A.D…

Evidences of magma mixing in the "Daly gap" of the alkaline suites: a case study from the enclaves of Pantelleria (Italy)

The island of Pantelleria consists of trachytes, pantellerites and minor mildly alkaline basalts. Rocks of intermediate composition (falling in the so-called ‘Daly Gap’) such as mugearites, benmoreites and mafic trachytes occur only in the form of enclaves in trachytes and pantellerites inside the main caldera of the island (Caldera ‘Cinque Denti’), which collapsed during the ‘Green Tuff ’ ignimbrite eruption at 50 ka. The enclaves include volcanic, subvolcanic and intrusive rock types. The enclaves in host trachyte contain traces of glass; devitrified glass occurs within enclaves in host pantellerites. Minerals in the enclaves show regular compositional variations with whole-rock silica co…

Petrogenesis of tourmaline rocks associated with Fe-carbonate-graphite metapelite, metabasite and strata-bound polymetallic sulphide mineralisation, Peloritani Mountains, Sicily, Southern Italy.

Abstract Tourmalinite and tourmaline-rich rocks associated with Fe-carbonate–graphite phyllite, strata-bound polymetallic sulphide deposits, metabasite and marble were studied, for information on the mechanism of tourmaline formation in the pre-Hercynian low-grade metamorphic sequence of the Mandanici Unit in the Peloritani Mountains of Sicily, southern Italy. The major and trace element compositions of the tourmaline rocks suggest the existence of a sedimentary protolith with pre-metamorphic black shale and bedded chert. Boron was interpreted to be accumulated in a restricted sedimentary basin, between platform carbonate formations, with abundant organic matter and Fe–Al–Ti-rich laterite–b…

Dall'ambra siciliana al Tecnezio - Storia per un Museo di Mineralogia

The scientific instruments of the historical Mineralogical Museum of Palermo: testimonies of almost two centuries of mineralogical and petrographic studies

The scientific collections of the historic Museum of Mineralogy of Palermo are located on the second floor of via Archirafi 36 and are preserved by the Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare (DiSTeM) of the University of Palermo. The historical edifice was designed by the architect Antonio Zanca and completed in the years 1933-1934. From the beginning, it has hosted the Institute of Physics at the ground and first floors, today entitled in honour of the famous physicians Emilio Segrè, and the Institute of Mineralogy at the second floor, which has kept one of the richest and ancient collections of Sicilian minerals. Today, the collections are partially exposed and are the subject of …

Arc-Tholeiite and intraplate alkaline magmatism in the high-grade metamorphic terraines of the Larderia area (Messina), Peloritani Mountains

Bimodal sill emplacement from an inhomogeneous source: a case study of olivine-gabbronorite and diabase with Ni-Cu sulphides in a sill within Permian sediments from Western Sicily, Italy.

A small outcrop of mafic rocks, located between the Permian-Triassic sediments of the Cenozoic tectonic unit of the Maghrebian chain in Western Sicily, is an olistolith made up of olivine gabbronorite within diabase. Textures, microprobe analyses, and major and trace element geochemistry confirm the co-genetic nature of the various rocks: the gabbronorite is the result of olivine and orthopyroxene accumulation, with interstitial clinopyroxene and plagioclase, in a framework of a gabbrodioritic diabase. At least two stages of magmatic crystallisation during ascent in the continental crust are described, on the basis of reconstructed conditions of T, P and XH2O. The primitive magma was recons…

The origin of the orthopyroxene megacrysts in the Eocene alkalibasalt of C.da Pietranera (Western Sicily)

The precious treasure of Mariano Valenza: The history of Ludovico Sicardi and the birth of geochemical volcano monitoring

I was lucky enough to meet Mariano Valenza in September 1995. I was hitchhiking on the highway that leads from Cefalu to Palermo to go back home. I had spent my summer holidays in the beautiful and wild Madonie mountains. An off-road vehicle (a Land Rover Defender) stopped and a refined gentleman with a curious and charismatic gaze offered me a ride. During our journey, we chatted pleasantly and he told he was originally from that area. When I told him, I was a Geology student, he smiled at me and said Then we will meet again soon, I am going to be your Teacher of Geochemistry!. After a few weeks the lessons began and I met again Professor Valenza in Via Archirafi 36, at the University of P…