Vulture Mount, Potenza Province, Basilicata, Italy

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Monte Vulture, Potenza Province, Basilicata, Italia

Composite volcano with 700 m of nephelinite, tephrite and phonolite tuffs and lavas. Activity at the main centre ceased about 0.5 Ma ago, but at 0.133 +/- 0.012 Ma, an isolated, highly explosive event occurred at the Monticchio centre, to the southwest of Vulture. Two maar craters were formed and pyroclastic deposits a few metres thick, extending over about 10 km2, were erupted. The pyroclastic rocks, some of which are carbonatitic, consist of alternating layers of lapilli and ash tuffs which display well developed dune structures typical of surge deposits. At some horizons the lapilli are spherical, up to 3 cm in diameter, and may be in contact and cemented by drusy calcite or supported by an ash matrix.

The Pleistocene Monte Vulture volcanic complex is the most recent volcano in this area. The neighbouring Melfi and Rionero volcanoes are not only older, but also have their lavas almost completely composed of hauynophyre (consisting of hauyne, melilite, leucite and nepheline, all of which indicate very undersaturated conditions), whereas the Monte Vulture cone is largely composed of pyroclastic rocks of almost trachytic composition, which contain hauynophyres only as xenoliths.

Particular mineral associations have been reported for a number of individual rocks and outcrops, including:
- Calcite, diopside, forsterite, hauyne, hydroxalapatite, melilite, phlogopite spinel and volcanic glass from calcite carbonatite and olivine-melilitite lapilli (occurring in a pyroclastic surge formation);
- Clinopyroxene, biotite, fluorapatite, hauyne, hydroxylapatite, lazurite, olivine, plagioclase, spinel and volcanic glass from outcrops of basanitic foidite (occurring in lava and pyroclastic flows and the lapilli cone);
- Clinopyroxene, diopside, fluorapatite, hauyne, hydroxylapatite, lazurite, plagioclase and volcanic glass from outcrops of tephrite (occurring in lava flows);
- Clinopyroxene, fluorapatite, garnet, hauyne, hydroxylapatite, lazurite, olivine, sanidine, spinel and volcanic glass from outcrops of phonolite-tephrite;
- Diopside, hydroxylapatite and melilite from carbonatite melilitite tuff lapilli.

Mineral List

Mineral list contains entries from the region specified including sub-localities

'Albite-Anorthite Series' Biotite Calcite var: Strontian Calcite 'Clinopyroxene Subgroup'

Diopside Fluorapatite Forsterite 'Glass'

Hydroxylapatite Lazurite 'Olivine' Sanidine

Spinel

13 entries listed. 7 valid minerals.

Localities in this Region

Italy Basilicata Potenza Province Monte Vulture Melfi

References