The Volcanic-Rich Layer of the “Camporotondo (Marche, Italy)” Section: Petrography and Sedimentation of an Unknown Distal Messinian Eruption

Abstract

A Messinian and lithified horizon enriched in volcanic particles with thicknesses of 170–180 cm crops in the Camporotondo (CR) section (Marche, Italy). This volcanic-rich layer (VRL) was investigated by field plus mesoscopic observations, X-ray powder diffraction (XRPD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), bulk composition methods and electron-microprobe analysis (EMPA). The quantitative textural features of volcanic and sedimentary components were determined by 2D image analysis. The lowermost massive 70–80 cm portion is free of sedimentary structure or characterised only by plane-parallel ones, whereas the uppermost one is undulated and cross-laminated. The XRPD and SEM outcomes unveil that the VRL of CR is mainly composed of glassy shards (≥80 area%), a variable amount of sedimentary minerals (<20 area%) and a very low content of magmatic minerals (few area%). The bulk and micro-chemical attributes of volcanic and glassy materials are rhyolitic and almost identical to previous VRLs dated at 5.5 Ma (VRL-5.5). The signatures of immobile elements and the high amount of H2O present in the glass fraction suggest a provenance from a convergent geodynamic setting. The 2D image analysis on SEM observations show that the VRL-5.5 of CR is composed of very fine and sorted (averages of MZ of 5,72 and σi of 0,70), scarcely vesicular, glass shards, with similar long and short size dimensions, shape and roundness. The VRL-5.5 of CR is free of large minerals and fossils. The coupling of mesoscopic and microscopic determinations indicates that the lowermost interval was deposited such as a primary tephra, i.e., fallout pyroclasts sinking in seawater. Instead, the uppermost interval derives from local, low-energy and sin-depositional remobilisation of the same VRL-5.5. The textural attributes of the volcanic fractions, the sedimentological features and the thickness of the VRL at CR correspond to the westward deposit of a still unknown eruption likely occurred at 5.5 Ma.