Vincenza Guarino

Magmatism and fenitization in the Cretaceous potassium-alkaline-carbonatitic complex of Ipanema São Paulo State, Brazil

The Ipanema alkaline-carbonatitic complex is part of the Meso-Cenozoic alkaline magmatism located within the southeastern part of the Brazilian Platform. Drill-core and field sampling have indicated the occurrence of glimmerites, with subordinate shonkinites (mela-syenites), clinopyroxene-bearing glimmerites, diorites and syenites. The glimmerites are cross-cut by lamprophyric dykes and calciocarbonatites. Fenitization has deeply affected the country rocks, originating dioritic and syenitic rocks. The Ipanema rocks show a distinct potassic affinity. The initial Sr-Nd- isotopic composition of the Ipanema rocks (87Sr/86Sr = 0.70661–0.70754 and 143Nd/144Nd = 0.51169–0.51181) is similar to that of tholeiitic and potassium-rich-alkaline rocks of the Eastern Paraguay. Stable isotope data for the Ipanema calciocarbonatite suggest interaction with fluids at temperatures typical of hydrothermal stages, as hypothesized for other carbonatite complexes from southeastern Brazil. The chemical differences between the lamprophyre, glimmerites, carbonatites, apatitites and magnetitites, and the absence of marked REE enrichment in the evolved lithologies, all indicate that fractional crystallization and accumulus of liquidus phases in a magma reservoir, likely coupled with liquid immiscibility processes, may have played an important role in the genesis of the Ipanema rocks.

Mineralogy and magmatic affinity of the Jasra intrusive complex, Shillong Plateau, India

Abstract The rocks of the Jasra intrusive complex (Shillong Plateau, northeastern India) include phlogopite clinopyroxenites (with olivine or perovskite relics), alkali gabbros/monzodiorites, syenites and nepheline syenites. They have a potassic affinity (Na2O/K2O ~1), and their mineralogy is dominated by clinopyroxene with which phlogopite, olivine, amphibole, feldspars, feldspathoids, oxides, orthopyroxenes, perovskite, titanite and other accessory phases are variably associated. The Jasra intrusive rocks are cumulates derived from at least two distinct magmatic liquids. The potassic affinity of the Jasra rocks differs from the nearby Sung Valley ijolitic-carbonatitic complex and from the ultrapotassic lamproitic rocks of the Damodar Valley, which are of approximately the same age. This suggests major variability in the mantle sources of small-volume alkaline volcanism in the Early Cretaceous of northeastern India.

Archaeometric study on terra sigillata from Cales (Italy)

Mineralogical and petrographical studies on 23 ancient pottery fragments of terra sigillata from ancient Cales (today Calvi Risorta, Caserta) are here discussed. Stamps on pottery surfaces assigned the fragments to Cales and other Italian workshops acting in Arezzo and Northern Italy area between 1 st century B.C.-1 st century A.D., other stamped fragments have an uncertain provenance. The mineralogical and petrographical features of pastes have been detected using optical microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, and DTA-DTG analyses. The geochemical comparisons among ceramics, production indicators of Calenian pottery (Black Glazed pottery spacers) and local clayey raw materials allowed to distinguish locally produced potsherds from imported ones. Moreover, the whole archaeological and archaeometric data set allowed to draw main technological aspects of a fine ware production much used on rich roman tables.

The REE- and HFSE-bearing phases in the Itatiaia alkaline complex (Brazil) and geochemical evolution of feldspar-rich felsic melts

Abstract The Late Cretaceous Itatiaia complex is made up of nepheline syenite grading to peralkaline varieties, quartz syenite and granite, emplaced in the metamorphic rocks of the Serra do Mar, SE Brazil. The nepheline syenites are characterized by assemblages with alkali feldspar, nepheline, Fe-Ti oxides, clinopyroxene, amphibole, apatite and titanite, while the peralkaline nepheline syenites have F-disilicates (rinkite, wöhlerite, hiortdahlite, låvenite), britholite and pyrophanite as the accessory phases. The silica-oversaturated rocks have alkali feldspar, plagioclase, quartz, amphibole, clinopyroxene and Fe-Ti oxides; the chevkinite-group minerals are the featured accessory phases and are found with allanite, fluorapatite, fluorite, zircon, thorite, yttrialite, zirconolite, pyrochlore and yttrocolumbite. The major- and trace-element composition of the Itatiaia rocks have variations linked to the amount of accessory phases, have smooth, enriched chondritenormalized rare-earth element (REE) distribution patterns in the least-evolved nepheline syenites and convex patterns in the most-evolved nepheline syenites. The REE distribution patterns of the quartz syenites and granites show a typical pattern caused by fractional crystallization of feldspar and amphibole, in an environment characterized by relatively high oxygen fugacity (>NiNiO buffer) and high concentrations of H2O and F, supporting the crystallization of hydrous phases, fluorite and F-disilicates. The removal of small amounts of titanite in the transition from the least-evolved to the most-evolved nepheline syenites stems from petrogenetic models involving REE, and is shown to be a common feature of the magmatic evolution of many other syenitic/ trachytic/ phonolitic complexes of the Serra do Mar and elsewhere.

Thin walled pottery from Alife (Northern Campania, Italy)

The ancient town of Allifae (modern Alife) represents one of the most interesting settlements of the Northern Campania area and together with the ancient city of Cales , was a thriving production centre of pottery. Excavations carried out inside the city wall, near the south gate, the so called, Porta Fiume, unearthed a huge dump of thin-walled ware, where the most abundant forms were cups and beakers, decorated with grooves or rouletting. The dump has been dated late Augustan/Tiberian age and the thin-walled vessels found can be identified with similar wares from Allifae, Cubulteria, Caiatia and perhaps Neapolis. Horace in his Sermones (II, 8,39) cited the Allifana beakers (described as fictiles ac subtiles by a Horace scholiast) and they could possibly be identified with the thin-walled wares produced in Allifae. If this the case, then the thin-walled vessels produced in Allifae were known in Rome as early as the end of I century B.C. In order to investigate and characterize the Allifae thin-walled pottery, twenty-one samples were selected and mineralogical-petrographic analyses (OM, XRD, XRF and SEM/EDS) were carried out. The clayey raw material used was a low-CaO alluvial clayey deposit from the Middle Valley of the Volturno River. The potters probably handled the sediment by a levigation process in order to remove the coarser grains, and making the clay suitable to produce such thin walls. Comparison with other regional production of thin-walled pottery allowed us to strictly distinguish the Allifana beakers.

Production and circulation of thin walled pottery from the Roman port of Neapolis, Campania (Italy)

Seventeen samples of thin walled pottery from the Roman port of Neapolis (late II century B.C. - early III century A.D.) were studied in order to ascertain the type of clay and temper utilised, and their provenance. Seven samples of thin walled pottery from a homogeneous group (based on mineralogical and chemical characteristics) represent a local production of this ceramic class within the Neapolis area. This group was manufactured with a low-CaO clay, that probably derived from a weathered or alluvial deposit, together with reworked pyroclastic material (e.g., Sorrento area or Sebeto River plain) and volcanic sand from the Neapolitan area, containing both Somma-Vesuvius and Phlegraean Fields products. Two other fragments could be attributed to different Campanian production areas, such as the Pozzuoli area. Eight outlier fragments found in the port of Neapolis probably originate from extra regional production sites (e.g. southern Tuscany or the Arno valley).

Erratum to: Unglazed pottery from the masjed-i jom’e of Isfahan (Iran): technology and provenance

Aknowledgments This research was supported by the following grants: V.M. (LR 5/02 2008, 04-C00001720) and funds from the Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e delle Risorse (DiSTAR) of the Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II (V.M.). Thanks are due to the following organisations of the Islamic Republic of Iran: Research Center of the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts and Tourism Organization (RCICHHTO) of Tehran, Iranian Centre for Archaeological Research (ICAR) of Tehran and Isfahan and Embassy of Italy at Tehran. Thanks are also due to institutions of the Italian Republic: Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Embassy of Islamic Republic of Iran in Rome, Istituto Italiano per l’Africa e l’Oriente (IsIAO), Centro Interdipartimentale di Servizi per l’Archeologia (CISA) and Università degli Studi di Napoli BL’Orientale^. The authors express their gratitude to the two anonymous referees for constructive comments and useful suggestions that significantly improved this manuscript. The authors also thank Leone Melluso for its helpful suggestions and Beatrice Bizzaro for the English revision of the manuscript. Finally, the authors thank Nader Akbar Mahdi, a craftsman of the ceramic workshop in Isfahan, for his help in finding clay and technical support.