A revised stratigraphy of the pre-Green Tuff ignimbrites at Pantelleria (Sicily Channel)

Peralkaline silicic magmas were erupted at Pantelleria in a variety of eruptive typologies and magnitudes: pyroclastic flows, Plinian to strombolian pumice fallout and lava flows. The initial cycle (330- 180 ka) was characterized mainly by effusive activity, and was followed by an intermediate cycle (181 - 85 ka), characterized by a clear drift to explosive activity. This period, onto we focus, is bracketed by six ignimbrite-forming eruptions (older and intermediate of the two caldera collapses at 140 and 50 ka that characterize the volcanological history of the island, which drained silicic and variably peralkaline magma for a cumulative volume close to 6 km3 DRE. These ignimbrites lack of…