Paleomagnetism of spatter lavas from Stromboli volcano (Aeolian Islands, Italy): Implications for the age of paroxysmal eruptions

Abstract

We report on 270 paleomagnetic directions retrieved from 17 different spatter deposits spread over the northern and western flanks of the Stromboli volcano (Aeolian Islands, Italy). The spatter were emplaced during previously undated high-energy Strombolian eruptions occurring after the third-seventh century AD. Our paleomagnetic directions were superimposed over the paleosecular variation curve of the geomagnetic field for the last two millennia, obtained by reducing to the coordinates of Stromboli the archeomagnetic and magnetic observatory data from France and Italy. This comparison suggests that most of the spatter exposed in the northern flank of the volcano were emplaced during several eruptions occurring between ca. 1400 and 1600 AD, while the western flank of Stromboli was diffusely spread by spatter during the powerful XX century eruptions. Conversely, there is no evidence for paroxysmal fire fountain activity occurring before 1400 AD, and between 1600 and 1907 AD.