Geochemistry of selected lavas of the Panarea volcanic group, Aeolian Arc, Italy

The Panarea Volcanic Group (PVG) is a group of emergent islands rising from the truncated cone of an underwater edifice in the eastern sector of the Aeolian Island Arc in the Tyrrhenian Sea, Italy. Selected lava units from the main island of Panarea and some of the nearby islets were analysed for their major and trace element compositions to the dataset available in the literature. Major mineral phases were identified as plagioclase ± clinopyroxene ± orthopyroxene ± olivine ± amphibole ± mica. The lavas of this study range from andesite to rhyolite with major element compositions equivalent to previously published data. Pyroxene geobarometry suggests a polybaric distribution to crystal fractionation, beginning at the Moho, and continuing to a shallow magma reservoir, at approximately 0.8 km depth. A plot of Nd 143 /Nd 144 vs. Sr 87 /Sr 86 show the compositions of Panarea overlap with the compositions of the eastern and central Aeolian Arc, while Pb 208 /Pb 204 vs. Pb 206 /Pb 204 do not overlap, but fall between the central and eastern arc values. As major and trace element concentrations, and isotope compositions of the lavas of this study overlap most consistently with lava compositions from the central and eastern Aeolian Arc, indicating Panarea should be considered an “intermediate” volcano in the arc.