Rock magnetism and compositional investigation of Brown Tuffs deposits at Lipari and Vulcano (Aeolian Islands — Italy)

Abstract

A rock-magnetic investigation was carried out on the nonwelded ash deposits of the Brown Tuffs (Aeolian Islands, southern Tyrrhenian Sea) to improve the stratigraphic correlation between the deposits cropping out on Lipari and Vulcano islands and locate their source area. The study was supplemented by petrographical and geochemical analyses on selected strata, with the intent to compare the Brown Tuffs to other rocks emplaced at Vulcano in the same time span. More than 30 levels were sampled in the intermediate (56± 4 kaNIBTN21–22 ka) and upper (21–22 kaNUBT) parts of the Brown Tuffs sequences on the two islands. Their characteristic remanent magnetization (ChRM) directions were derived from stepwise thermal demagnetization, and the magnetic fabric from measurements of the anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility. The levels with indistinguishable ChRM directions were regarded as coeval and to form an individual stratigraphic unit. The units were referred to the Brown Tuffs sequence of Lucchi et al. (2008) on the grounds of their emplacement age, provided by comparison of their mean paleomagnetic direction with the paleosecular variation curves of the southern Tyrrhenian region, as well as the field constraints. The closer correlation between the sequences of Lipari and Vulcano contributes to a better understanding of the volcanic activity that produced the Brown Tuffs, and shows that most of the IBT and the oldest UBT levels were emplaced in a short time span, between ≈24 and 20–17 ka. The magnetic fabric is typically well developed, but at most sites the magnetic foliation is very close to horizontal and no imbrication is defined. The source area of the Brown Tuffs parent pyroclastic flows, as constrained from the intersection of the magnetic lineations, falls in the northeastern part of La Fossa Caldera structure. Although limited to major elements, compositional data provide further indication about the parent plumbing system and its behaviour. Magma batch(es) involved in the IBT eruptions have homogeneous features and underwent frequent refilling and tapping processes. Conversely, those involved in the early UBT eruptions are compositionally more variable. This suggests more complex evolution and plumbing system activity: the UBT eruptions represent either residual mafic magmas from the previous eruptions or the arrival of new, fresh shoshonitic magma in the system.