Alteration and Mineralization Products of the Zannone Giant Pockmark (Zannone Hydrothermal Field, Central Tyrrhenian Sea)

Abstract

The Zannone Giant Pockmark (ZGP) is a shallow-water ( 88; depletion of some mobile elements and enrichment of some base metals), causing feldspar-destruction, silicification, formation of hydrothermal phyllosilicates, and precipitation of disseminated pyrite. More intense alteration implying the complete obliteration of the primary mineralogy or fabric is represented by quartz-pyrite samples. ZGP seabed morphology and petro-geochemical features of deposits point to the possible occurrence of a sulfide system linked to the degassing of magma similar to that feeding the Pleistocene products of Ponza Island.

Keywords

• hydrothermal alteration geochemistry
• volcanogenic massive sulfide deposits
• Zannone Giant Pockmark
• Pontine Archipelago