Abstract
At the foothillof Monte Amiata volcano (southern Tuscany, Italy), small extinct lake basins of late Pleistocene age are documented. These lake basins were characterized by the deposition of two very different types of sediment: a) derived from the authigenic precipitation of iron oxides (goethite) and exploited as earth pigments; b) biogenic siliceous sediment composed of fossil diatoms and named diatomaceous earth or diatomite. The lacustrine sediments of Mount Amiata volcano were widely exploited for various applications since ancient times. Literary documents begin in the 16th century, with the descriptions of Cesalpino, Gesner, Agricola, and Imperato. Specific references to the diatomites of Monte Amiata are quoted in the 17th century by Boccone and Bonanno. The quarrying activity was described by Micheli in 1733. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the diatomaceous earths of Monte Amiata are part of the important geological collections of Micheli, Targioni Tozzetti, Baldassarri, Campani, and Tommi. A particular significance has the collection of botanic and ichthyologic fossils collected by Ezio Tongiorgi, and now preserved in the Museum of Natural History of the University of Pisa sited at the Charterhouse of Pisa in the Calci village. These paleontological samples preserve the biological and physical testimonies of the environmental and climatic changes of the late Pleistocene and are now particularly valuable because they are the only remaining evidence of the diatomaceous lacustrine deposits of the paleo-lakes of Monte Amiata. For these reasons, they represent geological materials with a fundamental cultural value.
Highlights
Monte Amiata is a middle Pleistocene [305-231 ka BP; Laurenzi et al, 2015, Laurenzi and La Felice, 2017] silicic effusive volcano culminating at 1738 m above sea level (a.s.l.) located in southern Tuscany (Italy; 43°43’18.84”N 10°31’24.77”E, Figure 1)
The collection of fossils preserved in the diatomites of Monte Amiata presently housed at the Museum of Natural History of the University of Pisa consists of: 386 plant fossil remains, mainly comprising the so called “fillite” [Italian generic name indicating a plant fossil; Clerici, 1903a], 61 ichthyologic specimens, 2 mammalian teeth preserved in a glass vial, and 5 samples of sediment
The extinct lacustrine basins at the foothill of Monte Amiata volcano have been the place for the exploitation up to the exhaustion of the diatomaceous earth and earth pigments here sedimented during the late Pleistocene
Summary
Monte Amiata is a middle Pleistocene [305-231 ka BP; Laurenzi et al, 2015, Laurenzi and La Felice, 2017] silicic effusive volcano culminating at 1738 m above sea level (a.s.l.) located in southern Tuscany (Italy; 43°43’18.84”N 10°31’24.77”E, Figure 1). Both types of sediment were found superimposed or in alternating layers, such as in Abbadia San Salvatore and Arcidosso (Figure 1), to indicate cyclical variations in environmental and genetic conditions within the same basin Both diatomaceous earths and earth pigments are minerals with economic importance and the lake sediments of Mount Amiata have been the subject of extensive industrial exploitation, especially in the nineteenth century [Fei, 1997]. While the Monte Amiata lacustrine sediments made up of iron oxides and hydroxides are generally devoid of biological remains, diatomaceous earth deposits, in addition to their intrinsic biogenic composition, resulted to be rich in pollens and macrofossils such as fishes, insects, leaves, fruits, seeds, and woods These fossils have been collected and studied by various scholars since the nineteenth century. These collections are valuable because they are the only remaining evidence of the diatomaceous deposits from the extinct lakes of Monte Amiata volcano, and of their paleontological content
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