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Volcanic ash layers in the Upper Cretaceous of the Central Apennines and a numerical age for the early Campanian

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Abstract

At Montagna della Maiella and at Gola del Furlo (central Apennines) two discrete layers of bentonic clay are intercalated within the pelagic (Furlo) and turbiditic/pelagic limestones (Maiella) of the Upper Cretaceous basinal succession of the Umbrian basin (Scaglia facies). The bentonite layers are dated by planktonic foraminifera to the Globotruncanita elevata zone, early Campanian, and by calcareous nannofossils to the Aspidolithus parcus zone (CC 18); they fall into the reversed interval of chron 33. Detailed correlation shows the layers to be of exactly the same age. The upper layer is dated by U/Pb on magmatic zircons to 81.67±0.21 Ma, an age compatible with the Cretaceous time-scale of Obradovich. The mineralogy of the bentonitic clays is almost pure montmorillonite and contrasts sharply with the clay mineral assemblage of the enclosing pelagic and turbiditic limestones, which is dominated by soil-derived smectite and illite in different proportions. The bentonite seams are interpreted as the submarine alteration products of wind-borne volcanic ashes. They can be followed with only minor changes in thickness over 200 km and must be derived from distant volcanic sources and related to extreme volcanic events. A possible source area is present in the Dinarides where Upper Cretaceous subduction-related magmatic rocks are widespread.

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Acknowledgements

Field work of D.B. was supported by the Swiss National Science Foundation (grant 20-45131.95). D.B. acknowledges the help of Gregor Eberli, Maria Mutti and Iwan Stössel in the field. We thank Alberto Castellarin, Carlo Doglioni, Gregor Eberli, Bill Lowrie, Maria Mutti, Jakob Pamic and Livio Vezzani for much information and discussion, Wilfried Winkler for heavy mineral analysis, and Silke Voigt and Igor Villa for thoughtful reviews. M.F. and W.S. acknowledge the help of Sébastien Potel for clay mineral dressing and Heinz Hürlimann for combustion analysis. D.B. thanks Richard Guggenheim, Marcel Düggelin and Daniel Mathys for their cooperation with scanning electronic microscopy and Urs Gerber for much help in the preparation of the illustrations. The technical help during U–Pb analysis at ETH Zürich of Irene Ivanov and Albrecht von Quadt is kindly acknowledged.

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  1. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Basel, Bernoullistrasse 32, 4056, Basel, Switzerland

    Daniel Bernoulli, Willem B. Stern & Martin Frey†

  2. Department of Mineralogy, University of Geneva, Rue des Maraîchers, 1205, Genève, Switzerland

    Urs Schaltegger

  3. Department of Earth Sciences, University of Fribourg, Pérolles, 1700, Fribourg, Switzerland

    Michèle Caron

  4. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli Studi, Via La Pira 4, 50121, Firenze, Italy

    Simonetta Monechi

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Bernoulli, D., Schaltegger, U., Stern, W.B. et al. Volcanic ash layers in the Upper Cretaceous of the Central Apennines and a numerical age for the early Campanian. Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 93, 384–399 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-004-0389-4

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