The Taverna San Felice Dike (NE of Roccamonfina Volcano): Unraveling Magmatic Intrusion Processes and Volcano-Tectonics in the Tyrrhenian Margin of the Southern Apennines

The Roccamonfina volcano is located within the Garigliano Graben (southern Apennines, Italy) and has been active throughout the Middle-Late Pleistocene. Along its polyphase volcanic history (630-55 ka), including several caldera-forming eruptions (385-230 ka), several effusive/mildly explosive monogenetic events occurred along the volcano slopes, within the summit caldera, and along the graben-bounding carbonate reliefs. In this paper, we present a multidisciplinary study of a mafic magmatic feeder dike intruded within the Meso-Tertiary carbonates and overlying Lower Pleistocene breccias of Mt Cesima, northeast of the Roccamonfina volcano. We performed a stratigraphic and structural survey of the area and petrographic analyses on several samples of the dike. Results indicate that a & SIM;1 km long fissure fed an eruption that also emplaced a Strombolian pyroclastic sequence. Petrological data show that an open-system mafic recharge fueled the tephritic magma that fed the eruption, whereas no evidence of significant pre/syn-eruptive assimilation of carbonate has been identified. Stratigraphic and petrological data do not allow to firmly constrain the timing of the eruption, which could belong both to the pre-Brown Leucitic Tuff (>354 ka) and to the post-White Trachytic Tuffs (<230 ka) epochs of activity of the Roccamonfina volcano. Structural data show that the dike is broadly oriented E-W and changes direction toward NE-SW in correspondence with a pre-existing fault damage zone. We suggest that magma was intruded during an N-S trending extensional event in the Middle Pleistocene, whose prolonged activity resulted in regional uplift and exhumation of regional significance.

Automated summary

This paper presents a multidisciplinary study of the Roccamonfina volcano and its surrounding area in the southern Apennines, Italy. The study reveals the volcanic history and characteristics of a specific eruption event, as well as its timing and impact on the region. The results indicate that the eruption occurred during a Middle Pleistocene extensional event, which had significant regional implications including uplift and exhumation.