Description: We present ten 40Ar/39Ar age determinations, both on primary volcanic deposits and on detrital sanidine, which provide geochronologic control on the MIS 5.5 and MIS 5.3 sea-level indicators that occur at three coastal caves in the central Tyrrhenian Sea of Italy. Samples dated for the present work are as follows: - Two pumice clasts (MOSC-22, MOSC-37) extracted from the sand layers constituting the sedimentary fill of Moscerini Cave, recovered during the original archaeological excavations performed in the year 1949, stored at the IIPU (Istituto Italiano di Paleontolgia Umana) repository in Anagni (Frosinone, italy). These two samples were processed at the rare Gas Laboratory of the University of Wisconsin Madison in March, 2019. - One tephra layer (sample GDC-10) intercalated in the sedimentary fill of Capre Cave collected in June, 2021. - Seven sedimentary sand samples collected at Guattari Cave (GU-1, GU-5, GU-105, GU-116) in June, 2020, and at Capre Cave (GDC-6, GDC-8, GDC-0) in June, 2021 . These dates constrain the age of a Strombus-bearing biodetritic conglomerate associated with a tidal notch occurring at 9.5 m a.s.l. at Cape Circeo between 121.5±5.8 and 116.2±1.2 ka. Moreover, deposition of backbeach deposits intercalated in the sedimentary filling of Guattari and Capre coastal caves is bracketed in the interval 110.4±1.4 ka to 104.9±0.9 ka. Such deposits are directly correlated with a tidal notch at ~2.5 m associated with another biodetritic conglomerate at Cape Circeo. The latter is correlated with the adjacent marine terrace, occurring at 3-5 m in the coast between Capes Circeo and Anzio, for which a maximum age of 100.7±6.6 ka was previously reported. These data provide evidence for a maximum sea level around 9.5 m above the present sea level and a duration of MIS 5.5 highstand until 116 ka, in line with estimation from other regions in the world. In contrast, they suggest a maximum sea level during MIS 5.3 highstand that is similar to the present level, and only ~7 m lower than the MIS 5.5 highstand, challenging the reconstructions of the MIS 5 ice-sheet volumes and derived global sea levels that are based on the benthic oxygen isotope records.

Description: We present the first integrated tephrochronological study (major and trace elemental glass composition, Sr and Nd isotope analyses, and 40Ar/39Ar dating) for the last one tenth (∼82 m) of the ∼900 m-thick Quaternary lacustrine succession of the Fucino Basin, the largest and probably only Central Apennine intermountain tectonic depression that hosts a continuous lacustrine succession documenting the Plio-Quaternary sedimentary history up to historical times. Major element glass compositions, determined using a wavelength-dispersive electron microprobe (WDS-EMPA), yielded the geochemical fingerprinting needed for a reliable identification of most of the 23 stratigraphically ordered tephra layers under investigation. These include tephra from Italian volcanoes such as Campi Flegrei, Etna, Colli Albani, Ischia, Vico, Sabatini, and undefined volcanic sources in the Neapolitan area and Latium region. The recognition of key Mediterranean marker tephra layers (e.g. X-5 and X-6) is supported by trace element data acquired by Laser Ablation Inductively Couple Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The Sr and Nd isotope compositions of selected layers where also determined for circumscribing the volcanic source of distal tephra and for supporting correlations with individual eruptive units. We also propose a new, more expeditious covariation diagram (CaO/FeOtot vs Cl) for identifying the volcanic source of trachytic to phonolitic and tephrytic to phonolitic tephra, that are the most common compositions of pyroclastic rocks from volcanoes of Campania and Latium regions. Finally, we present five new 40Ar/39Ar age determinations, including a new, analytically well-supported, and more precise 40Ar/39Ar age for the widespread Y-7 tephra, and the first 40Ar/39Ar age determinations for one tephra from the Sabatini volcanic district (∼126 ka) and one tephra from Neapolitan volcanic area (Campi Flegrei?; ∼159 ka). These newly dated tephra are widely dispersed (e.g. Monticchio, southern Italy, Adriatic Sea and Lake Ohrid, Macedonia-Abania) and have thus the potential to become important Mediterranean MIS 5 and MIS 6 tephrochronological markers. Altogether the new geochemical data and 40Ar/39Ar ages precisely constrain the chronology of the investigated Fucino succession spanning the last ∼190 ka. In light of these results and by considering that this sedimentary succession possibly extends back to ∼2 Ma, Fucino is likely to provide a very long, continuous tephrostratigraphic record for the Mediterranean area and become a key node in the dense network of tephra correlations of this region.

Description: Published

Description: 211-234

Description: 1A. Geomagnetismo e Paleomagnetismo

Description: 5A. Paleoclima e ricerche polari

Description: JCR Journal

Description: This multi-disciplinary work provides an updated assessment of possible future eruptive scenarios for the city of Rome. Seven new 40Ar/39Ar ages from selected products of the Monti Sabatini and Vulsini volcanic districts, along with a compilation of all the literature ages on the Colli Albani and Vico products, are used to reconstruct and compare the eruptive histories of the Monti Sabatini and Colli Albani over the last 900 ka, in order to define their present state of activity. Petrographic analyses of the dated units characterize the crystal cargo, and Advanced-InSAR analysis highlights active deformation in the MS. We also review the historical and instrumental seismicity affecting this region. Based on the chronology of the most recent phases and the time elapsed between the last eruptions, we conclude that the waning/extinguishment of eruptive activity shifted progressively from NW to SE, from northern Latium toward the Neapolitan area, crossing the city of Rome. Although Monti Sabatini is unaffected by the unrest indicators presently occurring at the Colli Albani, it should be regarded as a dormant volcanic district, as the time of 70 kyr elapsed since the last eruption is of the same order of the longest dormancies occurred in the past.

Description: Published

Description: 8666

Description: 6V. Pericolosità vulcanica e contributi alla stima del rischio

Description: JCR Journal

Description: This study reports on the discovery that the podium of the archaic temple in the Forum Boarium of Rome was built with a previously unknown tuff, of non-local origin. On the basis of detailed comparative petro- graphic and geochemical tests, it has been established that the blocks employed to build the earliest temple so far discovered in Rome belonged to a distinctive facies of tufo lionato that had never been characterized before, in contrast to what was reported by previous excavators. The blocks must have come from a quarry in the Anio River Valley, several kilometers from the construction site, making the Sant'Omobono temple the earliest known Roman building that extensively employed imported materials. The metrology of the blocks is also unique. This particular volcanic stone was probably chosen for its much greater resistance to weathering compared to the local tuffs, a trait that was essential in the flood-prone location, not far from the Tiber riverbank, where the temple was situated. The labor-intensive sourcing may also explain the dainty size of the temple podium in comparison to other sixth-century bc temples in the region. The choice made by the builders indicates far greater sophistication and technical awareness than they have generally been credited with. The new discovery is placed in the context of the quickly accumulating archaeological record of sixth-century bc Rome, which suggests a dramatic increase in the number and scale of monumen- tal projects in the expanding city.

Description: Published

Description: 114-136

Description: 3V. Proprietà chimico-fisiche dei magmi e dei prodotti vulcanici

Description: JCR Journal

Description: Here we present the first tephrostratigraphic, palaeomagnetic, and multiproxy data from a new ~98 m deep sediment core retrieved from the Fucino Basin, central Italy, spanning the last ~430 kyr. Palaeoenvironmental proxy data (Ca-XRF, gamma ray and magnetic susceptibility) show a cyclical variability related to interglacial-glacial cycles since the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 12-MIS 11 transition. More than 130 tephra layers are visible to the naked eye, 11 of which were analysed (glass-WDS) and successfully correlated to known eruptions and/or other equivalent tephra. In addition to tephra already recognised in the previously investigated cores spanning the last 190 kyr, we identified for the first time tephra from the eruptions of: Tufo Giallo di Sacrofano, Sabatini (288.0 ± 2.0 ka); Villa Senni, Colli Albani (367.5 ± 1.6 ka); Pozzolane Nere and its precursor, Colli Albani (405.0 ± 2.0 ka, and 407.1 ± 4.2 ka, respectively) and Castel Broco, Vulsini (419e490 ka). The latter occurs at the bottom of the core and has been 40Ar/39Ar dated at 424.3 ± 3.2 ka, thus providing a robust chronological constrain for both the eruption itself and the base of the investigated succession. Direct 40Ar/39Ar dating and tephra geochemical fingerprinting provide a preliminary radioisotopic-based chronological framework for the MIS 11-MIS 7 interval, which represent a foundation for the forthcoming multiproxy studies and for investigating the remaining ~110 tephra layers that are recorded within this interval. Such future developments will contribute towards an improved MIS 11-MIS 7 Mediterranean tephrostratigraphy, which is still poorly explored and exploited.

Description: Published

Description: 106003

Description: 1V. Storia eruttiva

Description: 1A. Geomagnetismo e Paleomagnetismo

Description: 5A. Ricerche polari e paleoclima

Description: JCR Journal

Description: We present a review of the geomorphology of the Tyrrhenian Sea coast of central Italy integrated by a novel structural-geomorphological study coupled with statistical analysis of topographic culminations and comparison with a Digital Elevation Model, aimed at reconstructing a suite of paleo-surfaces corresponding to remnant portions of marine terraces. We performed geochronological, sedimentological, micromorphological and mineralogical investigations on the deposits forming the different paleo-surfaces between Civitavecchia and Anzio towns, in order to provide chronostratigraphical, paleogeographical and paleoenvironmental constraints. Using the newly achieved dataset we correlate these paleo-surfaces with the coastal terraces formed during past sea-level highstands, as recognized by previous studies, and we refine their correlation with the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) timescale. In particular, we have extended our geomorphological analyses landward in the area between the Tiber River mouth and Anzio, in order to include the oldest paleo-surface developed above the deposits of the last large explosive eruption at 365 ± 4 ka in the Colli Albani Volcanic District. Results of this study allow us to recognize a set of higher paleo-surfaces at elevation ranging 108 thought 71 m a.s.l., which we interpret as one tectonically displaced, widespread coastal terrace originated during the MIS 9.1 highstand. We correlate the previously identified paleo-surfaces of 66–62 m a.s.l. and 56–52 m a.s.l. with the equivalent coastal terraces developed during the sea-level highstands of sub-stages 7.5 and 7.3/7.1. Moreover, based on data from literature on relative elevation of maximum sea level during the highstands of MIS 11 through MIS 5.1, we assess the regional uplift and the concurrent tectonic displacements that have occurred since 900 ka in this area.

Description: Published

Description: 106843

Description: 2T. Deformazione crostale attiva

Description: JCR Journal

Description: The major processes that control the genesis of potassic volcanic rocks, like the timing of multi-stage mantle metasomatism, remain largely unclear. In an attempt to clarify the timing of the metasomatic process, a detailed geochronologic and geochemical study has been conducted on the ultrapotassic rocks of the Colli Albani Volcanic District (Central Italy). New 40Ar/39Ar data coupled with literature and newly performed 87Sr/86Sr, 143Nd/144Nd and chemical data allow us to precisely delineate the time-dependent geochemical variations of the magmas erupted at the Colli Albani Volcanic District and to better define mantle source processes responsible for their genesis. The temporal geochemical variations observed in the Colli Albani magmas indicate that: i) the ultrapotassic magmas originated from a metasomatized mantle source in which phlogopite is the potassium-bearing phase; ii) the partial melting of the mantle source involved mainly phlogopite and clinopyroxene (±olivine), whereas the role of accessory phases was less significant; and iii) the metasomatic process that led to the formation of the phlogopite in the mantle can be reasonably related to events that have occurred during the Paleozoic Era

Description: Published

Description: 151-164

Description: 2V. Struttura e sistema di alimentazione dei vulcani

Description: 3V. Proprietà chimico-fisiche dei magmi e dei prodotti vulcanici

Description: 4V. Processi pre-eruttivi

Description: JCR Journal

Description: The purpose of this review study is to reappraise in a more comprehensive form the thermodynamic principles behind the partitioning of trace elements between clinopyroxene and melt. The original corollary is that the partitioning energetics controlling the crystal-melt exchange are described by two distinct but complementary contributions: ΔGpartitioning = ΔGstrain + ΔGelectrostatic. ΔGstrain is the excess of strain energy quantifying the elastic response of the crystallographic site to insertion of trace cations with radius different from that of the major cation at the site. ΔGelectrostatic is the excess of electrostatic energy requiring that an electrostatic energy penalty is paid when a trace cation entering the lattice site without strain has charge different from that of the resident cation. Lattice strain and electrostatic parameters for different isovalent groups of cations hosting the same lattice site from literature have been discussed in comparison with new partitioning data measured between Tschermak-rich clinopyroxenes and a primitive phonotephritic melt assimilating variable amounts of carbonate material. Through such a comparatively approach, we illustrate that the type and number of trace cation substitutions are controlled by both charge-balanced and -imbalanced configurations taking place in the structural sites of Tschermak-rich clinopyroxenes. A virtue of this complementary relationship is that the control of melt composition on the partitioning of highly charged cations is almost entirely embodied in the crystal chemistry and structure, as long as these crystallochemical aspects are the direct expression of both ΔGstrain and ΔGelectrostatic. A size mismatch caused by cation substitution is accommodated by elastic strain in the surrounding lattice of clinopyroxene, whereas the charge mismatch is enabled via increasing amounts of charge-balancing Tschermak components, as well as the electrostatic work done on transferring the trace cations from melt to crystallographic sites, and vice versa. The influence of the melt chemistry on highly-charged (3+ and 4+) cation partitioning is greatly subordinate to the lattice strain and electrostatic energies of substitutions, in agreement with the thermodynamic premise that both these energetic quantities represent simple-activity composition models for the crystal phase. The various charge-balanced and -imbalanced configurations change principally with aluminium in tetrahedral coordination and the clinopyroxene volume change produced by heterovalent cation substitutions. In contrast, for low-charged (1+ and 2+) cations, the role of melt chemistry cannot be properly deconvoluted from the structural changes of the crystal lattice. The incorporation of these cations into the clinopyroxene lattice depends on the number of structural sites critically important to accommodating network-modifying cations in the melt structure, implying that the partitioning energetics of monovalent and divalent cations are strictly controlled by both crystal and melt properties. We conclude that the competition between charge-balanced and charge-imbalanced substitutions may selectively change the ability of trace elements to be compatible or incompatible in the clinopyroxene structure, with important ramifications for the modeling of natural igneous processes in crustal magma reservoirs which differentiate under closed- and open-system conditions.

Description: Published

Description: 103351

Description: 3V. Proprietà chimico-fisiche dei magmi e dei prodotti vulcanici

Description: JCR Journal

Description: We analyze the age distribution provided by 113 sanidine crystals separated from six samples of pyroclastic products of the Bolsena-Orvieto phase of activity at the Vulsini Volcanic District, which were dated via the 40Ar/39Ar single crystal, total fusion method in a previous study. Moreover, we investigate the compositional and depositional features of the dated products, both at the outcrop scale and at the optical microscope, aimed at discriminating the juvenile vs. antecrystic vs. xenocrystic origin of the dated crystals. Results of this study provide insights on the magmatic process preceding the eruptions, as well as on the eruptive mechanisms of the primary deposits. The data also provide a geochronologic context to the his- tory of eruptive activity of the Vulsini Volcanic District, from 590 to 250 ka with greater detail than previously outlined by direct dating of several primary units. Indeed, most of the six samples analyzed in the present work yielded 19 distinct crystal population ages, 10 of which match those of previously dated eruptive units and the other 9 possibly corresponding to primary deposits so far undated.

Description: Published

Description: 106904

Description: 1V. Storia eruttiva

Description: JCR Journal

Description: We present a geological-stratigraphical study aimed to provide chronologic constraints to the sea-level markers occurring at two coastal caves of central Italy (Grotta Guattari and Grotta dei Moscerini) and to the Neanderthal frequentation of these caves, in the light of recent archaeological and geomorphological-geochronological studies suggesting similar sea levels during MIS 5.5 and MIS 5.3, and only few m below the Present during MIS 5.1 in this region. Based on the review of previous literature data, combined with new stratigraphic observations at Grotta Guattari and re-analysis of archive material including unpublished field notes from Grotta dei Moscerini, we reconstruct a plausible sea-level history accounting for the lithological and paleoenvironmental features of their sedimentary fillings. In particular, we outline the abundant occurrence of well-rounded pumice clasts within the sedimentary deposits of Moscerini Cave, attesting for the proximity to the beach where this pumice was gathered by wave action. Through the petrographic and geochemical analysis of this pumice we evidence provenance from Phlegraean Fields and Ischia Island volcanic districts, framing their chronology in the time span 118-40 ka, consistent with literature ESR-U/Th dates providing ages ranging 101 ± 5-74 ± 7 ka for the sedimentary filling of both Moscerini and Guattari caves.

Description: Published

Description: 11929

Description: 1V. Storia eruttiva

Description: JCR Journal