Southern Tyrrhenian Sea

The Aeolian archipelago is an active volcanic arc in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea (Keller 1982). It consists of several stratovolcanoes forming seven main islands and several seamounts, which extend to the west and northeast of the emergent portion of the arc, around the Marsili basin (Fig. 7.1). The volcanic activity exposed above the sea level took place entirely during the Quaternary, most probably from about 400 ka to the present (Gillot 1987). 

The Ustica island (0.75-0.13 Ma) occurs in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, west of the Aeolian volcanic arc, along the southern margin of the Tyrrhenian abyssal plain, probably at the intersection between E-W and NW-SE trending faults (e.g. Boccaletti et al. 1984). The recently discovered Pro-meteo submarine lava field is located a few km southeast of Ustica (Trua et al. 2003). 

Information on ages and on petrological and volcanological characteristics of Plio-Quatemary Sardinian and southern Tyrrhenian Sea volcanoes is given in Tables 9.1 and 9.2. Selected analyses are given in Tables 9.3 and 9.4. The locations of the main eruptive centres are shown in Fig. 9.1. 

Fig. 9.1. Distribution of Plio-Quatemary volcanism in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea and Sardinia. The Oligo-Miocene arc-type magmatism of Sardinia is also reported.

Evidence in favour of subduction-related hypotheses for the magmatism along the Italian peninsula and in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea includes ... 

Appleton JD (1972) Petrogenesis of potassium-rich lavas from the Roccamonfina Volcano, Roman Region, Italy. J Petrol 13 425-456 Arana V, Barberi F, Santacroce R (1974) Some data on the comendite type-area of S. Pietro and S. Antioco islands, Sardinia. Bull Volcanol 38 725-736 Argnani A, Savelli C (1999) Cenozoic volcanism and tectonics in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea space-time distribution and geodynamic significance. Geodynamics 27 409-432... 

Calanchi N, Romagnoli C, Rossi PL (1995) Morphostructural and some petrochemical data from the submerged area around Alicudi and Filicudi volcanic islands (Aeolian Arc, southern Tyrrhenian Sea). Mar Geol 123 215-238 Calanchi N, Tranne CA, Lucchini F, Rossi PL, Villa IM (1999) Explanatory notes to the geological map (1 10,000) of Panarea and Basiluzzo islands (Aeolian Arc, Italy). Acta Vulcanol 11 223-243... 

Cinque A, Civetta L, Orsi G, Peccerillo A (1988) Geology and geochemistry of the island of Ustica (Southern Tyrrhenian Sea). Rend Soc It Mineral Petrol 43 987-1002... 

De Astis G, La Volpe L, Peccerillo A, Civetta L (1997) Volcanological and petrological evolution of Vulcano island (Aeolian arc, southern Tyrrhenian Sea). J Geophys Res 102 8021-8050... 

Francalanci L, Avanzinelli R, Petrone CM, Santo A (2004) Petrochemical and magmatological characteristics of the Aeolian Arc volcanoes, southern Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy inferences on shallow level processes and magma source variations. Per Mineral 73 75-104... 

---