High Preservation Potential Volcaniclastic Sedimentation in the Serravallian Sequence of the Amantea Basin (Coastal Chain, North-Western Calabria)

Cannata Chiara Benedetta,Donato Paola,De Rosa Rosanna,Morrone Consuele,Muto Francesco

doi:10.3390/geosciences11090360

Cannata Chiara Benedetta, Donato Paola + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences11090360

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Journal: Geosciences	Publication Date: Aug 25, 2021
Citations: 1	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: University of Calabria

Abstract

Evidence of volcaniclastic sedimentation occurs in the first depositional sequence of the sedimentary succession of the Amantea Basin. Volcaniclastic deposits are intercalated in the upper part of a sandstone formation and these show a maximum thickness of about 8 m. The Amantea Basin is a Neogene depozone located along the Tyrrhenian margin of Calabria whose onset started during the Upper Serravallian. The source volcano to these materials had to have been located within or near to the marine basin in order to supply it with significant amounts of pyroclastic fragments emplaced by either pyroclastic fall/or flows during one or more explosive eruptions. The marine environment of volcaniclastic flows made up of pyroclastic fragments mixed with minor siliciclastic and carbonate material. The textural and structural features of the deposits and the composition of the volcanic glass fragments indicate an origin from a sub-aerial coeval explosive eruption, with initial sedimentation in a shallow marine environment, mixing with non-volcanic materials, reworking and final re-sedimentation into the basin. The age of the volcaniclastic/sedimentary sequence makes these deposits a marker for the geodynamic evolution of the area, and the lack of such horizons in the other coeval peri-Tyrrhenian basins allows us to consider the Amantea Basin as a confined elongated coastal basin area, whose tectonostratigraphic architecture denotes a structural partitioning of the eastern nascent Tyrrhenian Basin.

Highlights

Explosive volcanic activity generates a large volume of fragmented materials, contributing 5–10% to the total clastic flux on the Earth surface [1]
This paper presents a detailed field and petrographical study of volcaniclastic deposits outcropping within the Miocene sedimentary succession of the Amantea Basin, located on the western margin of northern Calabria (Figure 1A)
The literature reports that the volcaniclastic deposits lie at the top of an arenitic interval belonging to deltaic sandstones facies of the first depositional unit [16] and are covered by the levels of arenites

Summary

Introduction

Explosive volcanic activity generates a large volume of fragmented materials, contributing 5–10% to the total clastic flux on the Earth surface [1]. Pyroclastic deposits are quickly remobilized, reworked and resedimented. Their isochronous deposition over large areas and depositional settings provides a powerful tool for dating and correlating different sedimentary archives. The high preservation potential of volcaniclastic deposits is helpful for the reconstruction of the volcanic history of their source areas. Volcanic ash deposited during the transgressive phases of sedimentary cycles had a high preservation potential [2]. In any case, they form important stratigraphic markers for stratigraphic correlations and record information about geodynamic settings and sedimentary processes acting upon these during the transport

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