Tanner, L. H.

In this paper we present a model for the growth of a maar-diatreme complex in a shallow marine environment. The Miocene-age Costa Giardini diatreme near Sortino, in the region of the Iblei Mountains of southern Sicily, has an outer tuff ring formed by the accumulation of debris flows and surge deposits during hydromagmatic eruptions. Vesicular lava clasts, accretionary lapilli and bombs in the older ejecta indicate that initial eruptions were of gas-rich magma. Abundant xenoliths in the upper, late-deposited beds of the ring suggest rapid magma ascent, and deepening of the eruptive vent is shown by the change in slope of the country rock. The interior of the diatreme contains nonbedded breccia composed of both volcanic and country rock clasts of variable size and amount. The occurrence of bedded hyaloclastite breccia in an isolated outcrop in the middle-lower part of the diatreme suggests subaqueous effusion at a low rate following the end of explosive activity. Intrusions of nonvesicular magma, forming plugs and dikes, occur on the western side of the diatreme, and at the margins, close to the contact between breccia deposits and country rock; they indicate involvement of volatile-poor magma, possibly during late stages of activity. We propose that initial hydromagmatic explosive activity occurred in a shallow marine environment and the ejecta created a rampart that isolated for a short time the inner crater from the surrounding marine environment. This allowed explosive activity to draw down the water table in the vicinity of the vent and caused deepening of the explosive center. A subsequent decrease in the effusion rate and cessation of explosive eruptions allowed the crater to refill with water, at which time the hyaloclastite was deposited. Emplacement of dikes and plugs occurred nonexplosively while the breccia sediment was mostly still soft and unconsolidated, locally forming peperites. The sheltered, low-energy lagoon filled with marine limestones mixed with volcaniclastic material eroded from the surrounding ramparts. Ultimately, lagoonal sediments accumulated in the crater until subsidence or erosion of the tuff ring caused a return to normal shallow marine conditions.

Hydroclastite beds are interbedded with pillow lavas in an overturned section exposed near Acicastello, on the Ionian coast of Sicily. Two distinct hydroclastite facies are recognized in a continuous 15-m section in a cliff face overlying pillow lavas. The first, an hyaloclastite facies, comprises black hyaloclasts and pillow fragments, many of which retain a partial pillow shape and glassy rim, in a matrix of smaller, partially devitrified and palagonitized hyaloclasts. Beds of this facies are predominantly inversely graded, exhibit both matrix and clast support, and commonly contain outsize clasts at or near the bed top. Beds of the hyaloclastite facies beds are interpreted as the deposits of noncohesive submarine debris flows transporting fragments formed primarily by cooling-contraction granulation. The second, a pillow-fragment breccia facies, forms wedge-shaped beds that are interbedded with the hyaloclastite facies. Pillow-fragment breccias comprise non-graded breccias of basalt blocks that formed by spalling of joint blocks from pillow lavas. Beds of this facies are clast-supported and contain a matrix of marly sediment. This facies formed by accumulation of pillow fragments along the sides of pillow-lava ridges, creating wedges of talus which interfinger with the debris-flow deposits of the hyaloclastite facies.

In this paper we integrate stratigraphic and sedimentological analyses of the volcaniclastic deposits, emplaced during initial opening and later widening of the Valle del Bove depression, with the available stratigraphy of the inner walls, and marine offshore data, structural data, and magnetic surveys to develop a comprehensive model for the opening of the Valle del Bove depression. The resulting model adds new insight into the triggering mechanisms of the flank collapse. Additionally, it suggests a three-stage evolution of the eastern flank of Etna. (1) About 10 Kyr ago, the extinct Ellittico volcano (60 80 (per uniformità anche con Acireale) to 15 Kyr) collapsed, forming the early Valle del Bove. The collapse produced an avalanche deposit that spread ESE and formed the base of the Milo Lahar and the Chiancone deposits. (2) The second stage involved instability-related minor collapses within the valley, causing southward and westward enlargement of the depression and the emplacement of the debris flow sequence that comprises the upper part of the Milo Lahar deposit. (3) Available debris that accumulated within the Valle del Bove from smaller subsequent collapses was deposited at the mouth of the Valle del Bove in the fluvial sequence that forms most of the exposed part of the Chiancone deposit. The emplacement of the whole volcaniclastic sequence occurred between 10 and 2 Kyr ago. Since then, the Valle del Bove has acted as a basin protecting the lower eastern flank of Etna from lava flows or inundations of volcaniclastic debris.

The role of sector collapse in the generation of catastrophic volcanigenic tsunami has become well understood only recently, in part because of the problems in the preservation and recognition of tsunami deposits. Tinti et al. [Tinti, S., Bortolucci, E., Romagnoli, C., 2000. Computer simulations of tsunamis due to sector collapse at Stromboli, Italy. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 96, 103–128] modeled a tsunami produced by the c. 5,000 years BP collapse of the Sciara del Fuoco on the island volcano Stromboli. Although deposits associated with this event are generally lacking on the island, volcaniclastic breccias on the SE side of the island extending to an elevation above 120 m a.s.l. may have been generated by this tsunami. Deposits above 100 m are dominated by coarse breccias comprising disorganized, poorly sorted, nonbedded, angular to subangular lava blocks in a matrix of finer pyroclastic debris. These breccias are interpreted as a water-induced mass flow, possibly a noncohesive debris flow, generated as colluvial material on steep slopes was remobilized by the return flow of the tsunami wave, the run-up of which reached an elevation exceeding 120 m a.s.l. Finer breccias of subrounded to rounded lava blocks cropping out at 15 m a.s.l. are similar to modern high-energy beach deposits and are interpreted as beach material redeposited by the advancing tsunami wave. The location of these deposits matches the predicted location of the maximum tsunami wave amplitude as calculated by modeling studies of Tinti et al. [Tinti, S., Bortolucci, E., Romagnoli, C., 2000. Computer simulations of tsunamis due to sector collapse at Stromboli, Italy. J. Volcanol. Geotherm. Res. 96, 103–128]. Whereas the identification and modeling of paleo-tsunami events is typically based on the observation of the sedimentary deposits of the tsunami run-up, return flow may be equally or more important in controlling patterns of sedimentation.