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The “Tufo Giallo della Via Tiberina” (Sabatini Volcanic District, Central Italy): a complex system of lithification in a pyroclastic current deposit

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Abstract

The Sabatini Volcanic District belongs to the Roman magmatic province of Central Italy, and the Tufo Giallo della Via Tiberina was one of the most voluminous pyroclastic flow-forming eruptions in this district. Post-depositional processes strongly affected this pyroclastic flow deposit leading to the crystallization of different authigenic phases (chabazite, phillipsite, feldspar). A field volcanological survey, along with a careful mineralogical characterization of a large amount of samples of the lithified facies, allowed us to reconstruct a type section primarily based on the amounts of the main authigenic phases. Chabazite always prevailed over phillipsite throughout the entire section, although in the innermost portions of the deposit, where temperatures remained high, chabazite mostly converted into a more stable phase such as an adularia-like phase. In addition to the zeolitization process, the fairly strong mechanical properties of this tuff can be also ascribed to the diffuse occurrence of microcrystalline calcite, which re-precipitated as a secondary phase after the dissolution of carbonaceous clasts.

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Acknowledgments

The Authors are grateful to two anonymous referees for their thorough review and to the Editor in Chief for his valuable comments, which greatly improved the quality of the paper. The Authors wish to gratefully thank Mr. Luca Campanelli, manager of the Ital Tufo Riano s.r.l., for repeatedly allowing several samplings in some quarries of the Riano (RM) area. Thanks are also due to Dr. Leonardo Casini, who carried out the vertical sampling along two quarry fronts. The authors are indebted to INNOVA Scarl for the supporting equipment of Laboratorio di Caratterizzazione Petrofisica dei Lapidei Ornamentali e Diagnostica dei Materiali located at DiSTAR. This work was carried out with the financial support of MIUR Progetti di Interesse Nazionale PRIN 2008 prot. 2008HCBK38_001 (granted to Maurizio de Gennaro and Piergiulio Cappelletti).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e delle Risorse (DISTAR), Università Federico II di Napoli, Via Mezzocannone 8, 80134, Napoli, Italy

    P. Cappelletti, P. Petrosino, M. de Gennaro, A. Colella, S. F. Graziano, M. D’Amore & G. Rapisardo

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze e Tecnologie, Università degli Studi del Sannio, Via dei Mulini 59/A, 82100, Benevento, Italy

    M. Mercurio & A. Langella

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze della Natura e del Territorio, Università degli Studi di Sassari, Via Piandanna 4, 07100, Sassari, Italy

    G. Cerri

  4. CISAG, Università Federico II di Napoli, Via Mezzocannone 8, 80134, Napoli, Italy

    R. de Gennaro

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  1. P. Cappelletti
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  2. P. Petrosino
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  3. M. de Gennaro
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  4. A. Colella
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  6. M. D’Amore
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  7. M. Mercurio
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  8. G. Cerri
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  9. R. de Gennaro
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  11. A. Langella
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Correspondence to P. Cappelletti.

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Editorial handling: B. De Vivo

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EDS analyses of the main authigenic phases (zeolites, feldspar) and unaltered glass occurring in the UTGVT formation. Note: E% = \( \frac{\left(\mathrm{A}\mathrm{l}\right)-\left[\mathrm{N}\mathrm{a}+\mathrm{K}+2\left(\mathrm{C}\mathrm{a}+\mathrm{Mg}\right)\right]}{\left[\mathrm{N}\mathrm{a}+\mathrm{K}+2\left(\mathrm{C}\mathrm{a}+\mathrm{Mg}\right)\right]}\times 100 \), chemical analyses of zeolites are reliable when the balance error E is lower than 10 %; R=Si/(Si+Al), D/M=Divalent /Monovalent cations, X=Mg+Ca+Ba+Sr+K+Na, Z=Si+Al. H2O content calculated by difference. (DOCX 52.1 kb)

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Cappelletti, P., Petrosino, P., de Gennaro, M. et al. The “Tufo Giallo della Via Tiberina” (Sabatini Volcanic District, Central Italy): a complex system of lithification in a pyroclastic current deposit. Miner Petrol 109, 85–101 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00710-014-0357-z

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