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34 pages, 12003 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Inventory and Quantitative Assessment of Geodiversity as Strategic Tools for Promoting Sustainable Geoconservation and Geo-Education in the Peloritani Mountains (Italy)

by Roberta Somma

Educ. Sci. 2022, 12(9), 580; https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12090580 - 24 Aug 2022

Cited by 26 | Viewed by 2721

Abstract

Most methods used for geoheritage inventories do not consider the quantitative assessment of the geodiversity indicators; consequently, it can happen that some geosites are wrongly inventoried as geodiversity sites and vice versa or activities for scientific, educational, and touristic purposes actually should not be planned in geoheritage sites unprovided with requirements. The main aim of the present paper is to raise awareness of the type of geoheritage present in sixteen localities of the Calabria–Peloritani Arc (Messina province; Italy) and suitable for scientific/educational/touristic assets. The main results of the research may be synthesized as follows: (i) identification of several potential geosites of international significance; (ii) exclusion of several geosites from any possible educational and touristic initiatives; (iii) possibility to promote educational initiatives among a broader public in some geosites and geodiversity sites, best addressed to postgraduate geology students in structural geology, tectonics, and stratigraphy, and/or PhD students or young researchers; (iv) planning of a geo route devoted to the geoknowledge transfer on Alpine thrust tectonics and Miocene block rotations involving arc-like structures such as the Calabria–Peloritani Arc and Paleozoic to Meso-Cenozoic stratigraphy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Innovation and Challenges in Teaching and Learning Applied Sciences)

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16 pages, 20706 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Application of Geostatistical Tools to the Geochemical Characterization of the Peloritani Mts (Sicily, Italy) Aquifers

by Marianna Cangemi, Valentina Censi, Paolo Madonia and Rocco Favara

Water 2021, 13(22), 3269; https://doi.org/10.3390/w13223269 - 18 Nov 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2170

Abstract

Sources of groundwater contaminants in inhabited areas, located in complex geo-tectonic contexts, are often deeply interlocked, thus, making the discrimination between anthropic and natural origins difficult. In this study, we investigate the Peloritani Mountain aquifers (Sicily, Italy), using the combination of probability plots with concentration contour maps to retrieve an overall view of the groundwater geo-chemistry with a special focus on the flux of heavy metals. In particular, we present a methodology for integrating spatial data with very different levels of precision, acquired before and during the “geomatic era”. Our results depict a complex geochemical layout driven by a geo-puzzle of rocks with very different lithological natures, hydraulically connected by a dense tectonic network that is also responsible for the mixing of deep hydrothermal fluids with the meteoric recharge. Moreover, a double source, geogenic or anthropogenic, was individuated for many chemicals delivered to groundwater bodies. The concentration contour maps, based on the different data groups identified by the probability plots, fit the coherency and congruency criteria with the distribution of both rock matrices and anthropogenic sources for chemicals, indicating the success of our geostatistical approach. Full article

(This article belongs to the Section Hydrogeology)

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29 pages, 10442 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Submagmatic to Solid-State Deformation Microstructures Recorded in Cooling Granitoids during Exhumation of Late-Variscan Crust in North-Eastern Sicily

by Eugenio Fazio, Patrizia Fiannacca, Damiano Russo and Rosolino Cirrincione

Geosciences 2020, 10(8), 311; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences10080311 - 13 Aug 2020

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 4529

Abstract

Late-Variscan granitoid rocks of trondhjemitic and granitic composition, intruded in migmatitic paragneisses in the north-eastern Peloritani Mountains (southern Italy) at ~310 Ma and ~300 Ma, respectively, exhibit a range of deformation microstructures developed under a shear regime at decreasing temperatures. Non-coaxial deformation is documented by sigmoidal feldspar porphyroclasts, mica fish, and asymmetric boudins affecting tiny andalusite crystals. Late-Variscan shearing during granitoid cooling is constrained by largely represented chessboard patterns in quartz and, especially, submagmatic fractures in plagioclase, indicating deformation at high-temperature conditions (T > 650 °C), in the presence of melt. Submagmatic deformation was extensively superseded by deformation at lower temperatures. Examples of solid state-high temperature deformation-related microstructures (T > 450 °C) include feldspar bulging, quartz grain boundary migration, and subgrain rotation recrystallization. Finally, low temperature subsolidus microstructures (T < 450 °C) consist of quartz bulging, mica kinks, and feldspar twinning and bending. A complete sequence of deformation, operating from submagmatic to low-temperature subsolidus conditions is recorded in both the older and younger granitoids, suggesting a duration of ~20 Ma for shear zone activity during post-collisional exhumation of the Variscan middle crust in southernmost Italy. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Subduction and Exhumation of the Lithosphere: The Contribution of Structural Geology, Petrology and Geochronology)

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21 pages, 4668 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Metasedimentary Metatexites with Trondhjemitic Leucosomes from NE Sicily: Another Example of Prograde Water-fluxed Melting in Collisional Belts

by Patrizia Fiannacca and Rosolino Cirrincione

Geosciences 2020, 10(4), 123; https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences10040123 - 29 Mar 2020

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3324

Abstract

Trondhjemitic leucosomes, hosted in late Variscan metasedimentary migmatites from the upper amphibolite-facies basement of the north-eastern Peloritani Mountains (southern Italy), have petrographic and geochemical features consistent with their origin as near-pure melts derived from in situ water-fluxed melting of their paragneiss host-rocks. Comparison with results of experimental melting and thermodynamic modelling of metasedimentary rocks suggests a dominant derivation of the leucosomes by melting, at c. 1.0 GPa and 700 °C, metagreywackes with a high pelitic content. Migmatization likely began at the thickening-related baric peak, or during the early post-collisional exhumation stages. A subsequent heating stage following the decompression and solidification of the leucosomes triggered a second melting stage, involving muscovite and biotite incongruent breakdown, with an associated production of peritectic sillimanite and garnet, and small leucogranitic patches within the trondhjemitic leucosomes. These melting events can be framed in the typical clockwise P-T-(t) evolution of the Variscan Belt in western and southern Europe, depicting collision-related thickening followed by widespread migmatization, starting close to the baric peak at c. 345 Ma and continuing during exhumation, with a duration of c. 25 Ma, up to c. 320 Ma. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Processes Recorded by Igneous and Metamorphic Rocks)

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