Single-crystal 40Ar/39Ar dating of the Montagna Grande-Monte Gibele trachytic shield volcano, Pantelleria (Strait of Sicily rift zone), Italy

Abstract

Montagna Grande and Monte Gibele represent the northwestern and southeastern portions of a shield volcano (hereafter “MGV”) located entirely within the Cinque Denti caldera structure on Pantelleria. The Cinque Denti caldera formed during the 45.7 ± 1.0 ka eruption of the pantelleritic Green Tuff. Subsequent isostatic compensation was achieved by the eruption within the caldera of ∼3 km3 of trachyte lavas that comprise the MGV and are thought to represent renewed tapping of the Green Tuff magma reservoir. The time interval between the eruption of the Green Tuff and the MGV trachytes has not been well constrained, with previous KAr ages from alkali feldspar yielding ages between 44 ± 8 and 28 ± 16 ka. In this study we report the results of new single-crystal anorthoclase incremental heating and total fusion 40Ar/39Ar ages collected from three trachyte lava flows collected at different sites and at different stratigraphic heights that provided ages of 26.2 ± 2.0, 22.5 ± 0.8 ka, and 22.3 ± 2.8 ka (uncertainties at 2σ). The results indicate that there was a repose period of up to ∼20,000 years between the eruption of the caldera-forming ignimbrite and the caldera-filling trachytes. The timing of our oldest dated sample is coincident with renewed basaltic volcanism in the northwest part of the island at ∼28 ka and suggests that the eruption of the trachyte was promoted by mafic recharge. We briefly review the petrogenetic processes operative in the reservoir during the repose period. Modelling of the thermal and compositional evolution of the fractionating system indicates an eruption rate of 7.5 × 10−4 km3/yr over the ∼4 ka eruption period.