Abstract
A cineritic level, which appears very interesting from a chronostratigraphic point of view because it is found throughout the eastern Mediterranean Sea, has been related to the « Cetara — Serrara Fontana » tuff formation (Ischia Island, Italy) by previous authors who estimated the age of this cineritic level to be about 25,000 years.
A direct dating of the « Cetara — Serrara Fontana » tuff has been attempted by means of isotopic analyses of uranium and thorium in sphene, glass, clinopyroxenes and magnetite from four tuff samples. The calculated age is 41,500±3,000 years only if glass and sphene are assumed to be coeval.
On the other hand, assuming as true the age of 25,000 years for the Cetara tuff, we must conclude that the sphene crystallized before the eruption. The age of the clinopyroxenes and magnetite is older than 300,000 years: therefore, they are possibly pre-existing minerals reworked by the Cetara explosion.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Allegre, C. L., 1968,230 Th Dating of Volcanic Rocks: A Comment. Earth Planet. Sci. Letters,5, p. 209–219.
Federici, C. andTaddeucci, A., 1974,Indagine radiometrica sull’età del tufo di Cetara-Serrara Fontana (Isola d’Ischia). Risultati preliminari. Rend. Soc. It. Min. e Petr.,30, n. 2, p. 695–704.
Keller, J., 1969,Ritrovamenti di tufi alcali-trachitici della Campania nelle Isole Eolie. Atti Acc. Gioenia Sci. Nat., Catania, Ser. VII,I.
-----, 1971,The Major Volcanic Events in Recent Eastern Mediterranean Volcanism and Their Bearing on the Problem of Santorini Ash Layers. Proc. 1st. Intern. Sci. Congr. on the Volcano of Thera, Greece, Sept. 15–23, 1969, p. 152–160.
Njnkovich, D. andHeezen, B. C., 1065,Submarine Geology and Geophysics, Colston Papers,17 (Butterworths, London), p. 413–452.
—————, 1967,Physical and Chemical Properties of Volcanic Glass Shards from Pozzolana Ash, Thera Island, and from Upper and Lower Ash Layers in Eastern Mediterranean Deep-sea Sediments. Nature,213, no. 5076, p. 582–584.
Norin, E., 1958,The Sediments of the Tyrrhenian Sea. Rep. Swedish Deep-sea Explor.,VIII, no. 1, p. 4136.
Rittmann, A., 1930,Geologie der Insel Ischia. Z. Vulk. Erg.,6, p. 1–264, Dietrich Reiner, Berlin.
Vergnaud-Grazzini, C. andHerrmann-Rosemberg, Y., 1969,Etude paléoclimatique d’une carotte de la Méditerranée orientale. Rev. géogr. physique et géol, dynam., ser. 2,II, p. 279–292.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Additional information
This work was carried out as a part of the programme of the « Centro di Studi per la Geochimica Applicata alla Stratigrafia Recente » of the CNR.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Delitala, M.C., Federici, C. & Taddeucci, A. Uranium and thorium isotopes in minerals from the « Cetara — Serrara Fontana » tuff (Ischia Island, Italy) — A tentative radiometric dating. Bull Volcanol 38, 1015–1022 (1974). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02597103
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02597103