Metavolcanics from Capo Malfatano, SW Sardinia, Italy: New insight on the age and nature of Ordovician volcanism in the Variscan foreland zone

Abstract

The tectonic/stratigraphic interpretation of the Cambro–Ordovician rocks exposed in the south‐westernmost sectors of the Sardinia island (i.e., belonging to the Bithia Formation or Unit) is still a hot point of discussion. A debated question is also the age of the metavolcanics interbedded in these rocks. In order to provide a clear answer to this problem, in this paper, we provide new U–Pb zircon dating and a petrographic–geochemical comparison of metavolcanics interbedded within the Bithia Formation with similar Sardinian Ordovician calc‐alkaline rocks. The Bithia metavolcanics plot in the rhyodacite/rhyolite field. They show negative troughs for Nb and Ta, negative anomalies for Sr, P, and Ti, and positive peaks for Cs, Rb, K, Th, U, and Pb in the multielement diagram normalized to primitive mantle and significant LREE enrichment, marked negative Eu anomaly, and flat HREE patterns in the chondrite‐normalized REE diagram. Owing to these geochemical features, the Bithia metavolcanics plot in the volcanic arc and active continental margin fields closely resembling Middle‐Late Ordovician felsic metavolcanics from the Sarrabus, Gerrei, Goceano, and Mt. Grighini units. A new U–Pb zircon age of 462.1 ± 4.3 Ma yielded by a metavolcanic layer within the Bithia Formation at Capo Malfatano must be interpreted as the emplacement age. The CL and BSE images of zircon grains do not show any evidence of interaction with late hydrothermal fluids that could have caused Pb loss and rejuvenated ages, confirming the Middle‐Late Ordovician age of the metavolcanics.