Options
Scribano, Vittorio
Loading...
Preferred name
Scribano, Vittorio
ORCID
2 results
Now showing 1 - 2 of 2
- PublicationOpen AccessA Volcanological Paradox in a Thin-Section: Large Explosive Eruptions of High-Mg Magmas Explained Through a Vein of Silicate Glass in a Serpentinized Peridotite Xenolith (Hyblean Area, Sicily)(2019-03-29)
; ; ; ; ; Ultramafic magmas (MgO 18 wt%) are generally thought to be primary mantle melts formed at temperatures in excess of 1600 C. Volatile contents are expected to be low, and accordingly, high-Mg magmas generally do not yield large explosive eruptions. However, there are important exceptions to low explosivity that require an explanation. Here we show that hydrous (hence, potentially explosive) ultramafic magmas can also form at crustal depths at temperatures even lower than 1000 C. Such a conclusion arose from the study of a silicate glass vein, ~1 mm in thickness, cross-cutting a mantle-derived harzburgite xenolith from the Valle Guffari nephelinite diatreme (Hyblean area, Sicily). The glass vein postdates a number of serpentine veins already existing in the host harzburgite, thus reasonably excluding that the melt infiltrated in the rock at mantle depths. The glass is highly porous at the sub-micron scale, it also bears vesicles filled by secondary minerals. The distribution of some major elements corresponds to a meimechite composition (MgO = 20.35 wt%; Na2O + K2O < 1 wt%; and TiO2 > 1 wt%). On the other hand, trace element distribution in the vein glass nearly matches the nephelinite juvenile clasts in the xenolith-bearing tuff-breccia. These data strongly support the hypothesis that an upwelling nephelinite melt (MgO = 7–9 wt%; 1100 T 1250 C) intersected fractured serpentinites (T 500 C) buried in the aged oceanic crust. The consequent dehydroxilization of the serpentine minerals gave rise to a supercritical aqueous fluid, bearing finely dispersed, hydrated cationic complexes such as [Mg2+(H2O)n]. The high-Mg, hydrothermal solution "flushed" into the nephelinite magma producing an ultramafic, hydrous (hence, potentially explosive), hybrid magma. This hypothesis explains the volcanological paradox of large explosive eruptions produced by ultramafic magmas.359 26 - PublicationRestrictedPyrite and Organic Compounds Coexisting in Intrusive Mafic Xenoliths (Hyblean Plateau, Sicily): Implications for Subsurface Abiogenesis(2019-06)
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; Pyrite and organic matter closely coexist in some hydrothermally-altered gabbroic xenoliths from the Hyblean Plateau, Sicily. The representative sample consists of plagioclase, Fe-oxides, clinopyroxene, pyrite and minor amounts of many other minerals. Plagioclase displays incipient albitization, clinopyroxene is deeply corroded. Pyrite grains are widely replaced by spongy-textured magnetite, which locally hosts Ca-(and Fe-)sulfate micrograins and blebs of condensed organic matter. Whole-rock trace element distribution evidences that incompatible elements, particularly the fluid-mobile Ba, U and Pb, are significantly enriched with respect to N-MORB values. The mineralogical and geochemical characteristics of the sample, and its U-Pb zircon age of 216.9 ± 6.7 MA, conform to the xenolith-based viewpoint that the unexposed Hyblean basement is a relict of the Ionian Tethys lithospheric domain, mostly consisting of abyssal-type serpentinized peridotites with small gabbroic intrusions. Circulating hydrothermal fluids there favored the formation of hydrocarbons trough Fischer-Tropsch-type organic synthesis, giving also rise to sulfidization episodes. Subsequent variations in temperature and redox conditions of the system induced partial de-sulfidization, Fe-oxides precipitation and sulfate-forming reactions, also promoting poly-condensation and aromatization of the already-formed hydrocarbons. Here we show organic matter adhering to a crystal face of a microscopic pyrite grain. Pyrite surfaces, as abiotic analogues of enzymes, can adsorb and concentrate organic molecules, also acting as catalysts for a broad range of proto-biochemical reactions. The present data therefore may support established abiogenesis models suggesting that pyrite surfaces carried out primitive metabolic cycles in suitable environments of the early Earth, such as endolithic recesses in mafic rocks permeated by hydrothermal fluids.181 2