Rossetti, Federico

Post-orogenic back-arc magmatism is accompanied by hydrothermal ore deposits and mineralizations derived from mantle and crustal sources. We investigate Zannone Island (ZI), back-arc Tyrrhenian basin, Italy, to define the source(s) of mineralizing hydrothermal fluids and their relationships with the regional petrological-tectonic setting. On ZI, early Miocene thrusting was overprinted by late Miocene post-orogenic extension and related hydrothermal alteration. Since active submarine hydrothermal outflow is reported close to the island, Zannone provides an ideal site to determine the P-T-X evolution of the long-lived hydrothermal system. We combined field work with microstructural analyses on syn-tectonic quartz veins and carbonate mineralizations, X-ray diffraction analysis, microthermometry and element mapping of fluid inclusions (FIs), C, O, and clumped isotopes, and analyses of noble gases (He-Ne-Ar) and CO2 content in FIs. Our results document the evolution of a fluid system of magmatic origin with increasing mixing of meteoric fluids. Magmatic fluids were responsible for quartz veins precipitation at ∼125 to 150 MPa and ∼300°C–350°C. With the onset of extensional faulting, magmatic fluids progressively interacted with carbonate rocks and mixed with meteoric fluids, leading to (a) host rock alteration with associated carbonate and minor ore mineral precipitation, (b) progressive fluid neutralization, (c) cooling of the hydrothermal system (from ∼320°C to ∼86°C), and (d) embrittlement and fracturing of the host rocks. Both quartz and carbonate mineralizations show noble gases values lower than those from the adjacent active volcanic areas and submarine hydrothermal systems, indicating that the fossil-to-active hydrothermal history is associated with the emplacement of multiple magmatic intrusions.

The hinterland of the Cenozoic Northern Apennines fold-and-thrust belt exposes the metamorphic roots of the chain, vestiges of the subduction-related tectono-metamorphic evolution that led to the buildup of the Alpine orogeny in the Mediterranean region. Like in other peri-Mediterranean belts, the tectono-metamorphic evolution of the Palaeozoic continental basement in the Apennines is still poorly constrained, hampering the full understanding of their Alpine orogenic evolution. We report the first comprehensive tectono-metamorphic study of the low-grade metasedimentary (metapsammite/metapelite) succession of the Monti Romani Complex (MRC) that formed after Palaeozoic protoliths and constitutes the southernmost exposure of the metamorphic domain of the Northern Apennines. By integrating fieldwork with microstructural studies, Raman spectroscopy on carbonaceous material and thermodynamic modelling, we show that the MRC preserves a D1/M1 Alpine tectono-metamorphic evolution developed under HP–LT conditions (~1.0–1.1 GPa at T ~ 400°C) during a non-coaxial, top-to-the-NE, crustal shortening regime. Evidence for HP–LT metamorphism is generally cryptic within the MRC, dominated by graphite-bearing assemblages with the infrequent blastesis of muscovite ± chlorite ± chloritoid ± paragonite parageneses, equilibrated under cold palaeo-geothermal conditions (~10°C/km). Results of this study allow extending to the MRC the signature of subduction zone metamorphism already documented in the hinterland of the Apennine orogen, providing further evidence of the syn-orogenic ductile exhumation of the HP units in the Apennine belt. Finally, we discuss the possible role of fluid-mediated changes in the reactive bulk rock composition on mineral blastesis during progress of regional deformation and metamorphism at low-grade conditions.

Numerous studies exist on exhumed tectonic mélanges along subduction channels whereas, in accretionary wedge interiors, deformation mechanisms and related fluid circulation in tectonic mélanges are still underexplored. We combine structural and microstructural observations with geochemical (stable and clumped isotopes and isotope composition of noble gases in fluid inclusions of calcite veins) and U-Pb geochronological data to define deformation mechanisms and syn-tectonic fluid circulation within the Mt. Massico intra-wedge tectonic mélange, located in the inner part of the central-southern Apennines accretionary wedge, Italy. This mélange developed by shear deformation at the base of a clastic succession. Deformation was characterized by disruption of the primary bedding, mixing, and deformation of relicts of competent olistoliths and strata within a weak matrix of deformed clayey and marly interbeds. Recurrent cycles of mutually overprinting fracturing/veining and pressure-solution processes generated a block-in-matrix texture. The geochemical signatures of syntectonic calcite veins suggest calcite precipitation in a closed system from warm (108°-147 °C) paleofluids, with δ18O vlaues between þ9‰ and 14‰, such as trapped pore waters after extensive 18O exchange with the local limestone host rock and/or derived by clay dehydration processes at T > 120 °C. The 3He/4He ratios in fluid inclusions are lower than 0.1 Ra, indicating that He was exclusively sourced from the crust. We conclude that: (1) intraformational rheological contrasts, inherited trapped fluids, and low-permeability barriers such as marlyshaly matrix, can promote the generation of intra-wedge tectonic mélanges and the development of transient fluid overpressure; (2) clay-rich tectonic mélanges, developed along intra-wedge décollement layers, may generate low-permeability barriers hindering the fluid redistribution within accretionary wedges.

The Miocene “Corte Blanco Tuff” rhyolite deposit is the product of a large volume and high intensity Plinian erup-tion from the solitary and monogenetic Ramadas Volcanic Centre (Central Andes, Province of Salta, NWArgentina). The“Corte Blanco Tuff”consists of vitreous tube pumices with rare euhedral sub-millimetricMn-garnet phenocrysts, typically hosting inclusions of U-phases as zircon and monazite. Here, we present newtextural, major and trace elemental analyses of garnet, zircon and glass that, combined with in situ U-(Th)-Pbzircon and monazitedating, are used to reconstruct thethermobaricenvironment offormation,age andlongevityof the magmatic plumbing system of the Ramadas magma. The results indicate to a crystallization path of aperaluminous rhyolitic melt at shallow crustal levels (≤6 km), as sequentially tracked by the initial nucleationof zircon (780 °C at 9.16 Ma) and garnet (above or at ca. 700 °C), to thefinal monazite growth (660–670 °C, at8.70 Ma) in a water-saturated (H2O=3–5 wt%) environment, shortly before the eruption started. These data(1) define for thefirst time the primary magmatic origin of Mn-garnet in a rhyolitic volcanic setting; (2) providenew partition coefficients of rare earth elements (REE) between natural garnet, zircon and rhyolitic melts; and(3) permit reconstruction of the magmatic processes that resulted in the Ramadas eruption. On a wider scale,our results document the spatio-temporal (P-Tconditions, timing and longevity) time scales involved in the pet-rogenesis of a shallow peraluminous water-saturated rhyolitic magmatic plumbing system that is able to gener-ate the conditions for extremely explosive Plinian eruptions.

Since the first discovery of ultrahigh pressure (UHP) rocks 30 years ago in the Western Alps, the mechanisms for exhumation of (U)HP terranes worldwide are still debated. In the western Mediterranean, the presently accepted model of synconvergent exhumation (e.g., the channel-flow model) is in conflict with parts of the geologic record. We synthesize regional geologic data and present alternative exhumation mechanisms that consider the role of divergence within subduction zones. These mechanisms, i.e., (i) the motion of the upper plate away from the trench and (ii) the rollback of the lower plate, are discussed in detail with particular reference to the Cenozoic Adria-Europe plate boundary, and along three different transects (Western Alps, Calabria-Sardinia, and Corsica-Northern Apennines). In the Western Alps, (U)HP rocks were exhumed from the greatest depth at the rear of the accretionary wedge during motion of the upper plate away from the trench. Exhumation was extremely fast, and associated with very low geothermal gradients. In Calabria, HP rocks were exhumed from shallower depths and at lower rates during rollback of the Adriatic plate, with repeated exhumation pulses progressively younging toward the foreland. Both mechanisms were active to create boundary divergence along the Corsica-Northern Apennines transect, where European southeastward subduction was progressively replaced along strike by Adriatic northwestward subduction. The tectonic scenario depicted for the Western Alps trench during Eocene exhumation of (U)HP rocks correlates well with present-day eastern Papua New Guinea, which is presented as a modern analog of the Paleogene Adria-Europe plate boundary.

Anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) analysis has been carried out in the thermometamorphic aureole surrounding the Late Miocene Monte Capanne pluton (Elba Island, Central Italy). The identification and separation of the main carriers of the magnetic susceptibility by low-temperature and high-field AMS measurements demonstrate that a correct knowledge of the magnetic fabric is needed in order to use AMS for tectonic interpretations. Magnetic fabric data, combined with structural data from the aureole, and their comparison with data from the pluton itself, were used to constraint the mode of pluton emplacement. Results document an intimate linkage between the magmatic flow pattern and the syn-metamorphic fabrics acquired during pluton emplacement in the host rocks. The magnetic/structural fabric in the aureole rocks is dominated by flattening deformation and no systematic relationship with any regional tectonic feature is observed. These results suggest that local processes induced by magma ascent in the upper crust might have played a primary role in space generation for pluton emplacement in the Tuscan Magmatic Province, suggesting a revaluation of the modes of pluton emplacement during the post-orogenic evolution of the northern Apennine system as a whole.

Alpine orogens in the central Mediterranean region have revealed the concomitance of crustal extension in back-arc domain and crustal shortening in frontal domain. Quantitative data of deformation in the frontal orogenic wedges are necessary to understand how the shortening-extension pair evolves in terms of structures, orogenic transport, timing, and exhumation rate. This paper deals with kinematics and ages of the frontal thrust systems of the Calabria-Peloritani Arc (Italy) exposed in the eastern Sila Massif. We first present structural fieldwork, onshore and offshore well log data, and new apatite fission-track (AFT) thermochronology. Then, we describe the structural architecture of the studied area as an ENE-verging stacking of thrust sheets involving basement units and syn-orogenic sediments. The AFT study documents that thrust sheets entered the partial annealing zone from 18 Ma to 13 Ma. This Early-Middle Miocene thrusting phase was coeval with exhumation of high-pressure/low temperature metamorphic rocks in the hinterland of the orogen (Coastal Chain area), mainly driven by top-to-the-W extensional tectonics. Opposite kinematic shear senses (contractional top-to-the-E and extensional top-to-the-W) and different exhumation rates (slow in the frontal, more rapid in the hinterland) are framed in a tectonic scenario of a critically tapered orogenic wedge during the eastward retreating of the Apennine slab.

Northern Victoria Land is located at the boundary between an extended, presumably hot, region (West Antarctic Rift System) and the thick, possibly cold, East Antarctic craton. The style and timing of Tertiary deformation along with relationships with the magmatic activity are still unclear, and contrasting models have been proposed. We performed structural and morphotectonic analyses at the NE termination of northern Victoria Land in the Admiralty Mountains area, where the relationship between topography, tectonics, and magmatism is expected to be well pronounced. We found evidence of two subsequent episodes of faulting, occurring concurrently with the Neogene McMurdo volcanism. The first episode is associated with dextral transtension, and it is overprinted by extensional tectonics during the emplacement of large shield alkaline volcanoes. Upper mantle seismic tomography shows that the extensional regime is limited to regions overlying a low-velocity anomaly.We interpret this anomaly to be of thermal origin, and have tested by means of numerical modelling the role of large-scale upwelling on lithosphere deformation in the area. The results of this integrated analysis suggest that the morphotectonic setting of the region and the magmatism result from upwelling flow at the boundary between the cold cratonic and the hot stretched province (WARS), at work until recent time in this portion of the northern Victoria Land

We first would like to thank Capponi et al. (2008) for their comments and criticisms on our paper, offering us the opportunity to discuss the data and the model presented in Vignaroli et al. (2008a) and clarify the geological rationale behind our manuscript. Vignaroli et al. (2008a) presented a large-scale reconstruction on the evolution of the Western Alpine–Northern Apennine junction, based on shallow geological information derived from the Northern Apennines, the Western and Ligurian Alps coupled with deep mantle structures from seismic tomography and tectonic reconstructions. The aim of this paper is then to give an alternative, though simplified, tectonic solution to the long-standing debate concerning the polarity of the subduction zone in the central Mediterranean and its linkage with the Alpine orogeny and the formation of the arcs belt. We condensed and simplified the huge wealth of geological information using cross-sections along the three orogenic segments. One of the main points of the paper is that the Voltri Massif of the Ligurian Alps is reinterpreted as an eclogitic-bearing domain exhumed by means of ductile-to-brittle extensional detachment tectonics with a top-to-the-W sense of shear. In this view, the orogenic architecture and evolution of the Ligurian Alps presents affinities (both for geometry and timing of deformation) with the widely accepted extensional structures recognized in the Western Alps, in the Northern Apennines and, in general, in Alpine-type orogenic belts of the Mediterranean. The detailed comment made by Capponi et al. (2008) is indeed centred on the tectonic structure of the Voltri Massif (probably this comment should have been addressed to our companion paper, Vignaroli et al., 2008b, focused on the Voltri Massif structures and available on-line on March 2008). The main point of the comment is that the exhumation of High-Pressure (HP) metamorphic units exposed in the Voltri Massif was produced by thrusts rather than by syn-orogenic extensional detachments. In this reply, we would first like to make some general considerations on the criteria/concepts adopted for the interpretation of the exhumation-related structures and we will then discuss point-by-point the criticism of Capponi et al., 2008 Capponi, G., Crispini, L., Scambelluri, M., 2008. Comment on "Subduction polarity reversal at the junction between the Western Alps and the Northern Apennines, Italy", by G. Vignaroli, C. Faccenna, L. Jolivet, C. Piromallo, F. Rossetti. Tectonophysics.Capponi et al. (2008).

Northern Victoria Land is located at the boundary between an extended, presumably hot, region (West Antarctic Rift System) and the thick, possibly cold, East Antarctic craton. The style and timing of Tertiary deformation along with relationships with the magmatic activity are still unclear, and contrasting models have been proposed. We performed structural and morphotectonic analyses at the NE termination of northern Victoria Land in the Admiralty Mountains area, where the relationship between topography, tectonics, and magmatism is expected to be well pronounced. We found evidence of two subsequent episodes of faulting, occurring concurrently with the Neogene McMurdo volcanism. The first episode is associated with dextral transtension, and it is overprinted by extensional tectonics during the emplacement of large shield alkaline volcanoes. Upper mantle seismic tomography shows that the extensional regime is limited to regions overlying a low-velocity anomaly. We interpret this anomaly to be of thermal origin, and have tested the role of largescale upwelling on lithosphere deformation in the area. The results of this integrated analysis suggest that the morphotectonic setting of the region and the magmatism is likely the result of upwelling flow at the boundary between the cold cratonic and the hot stretched province (WARS), at work until recent time in this portion of the northern Victoria Land.