The Hyblean xenolith suite (Sicily): an unexpected legacy of the Ionian–Tethys realm

Metasomatizing effects of serpentinization-related hydrothermal fluids in abyssal peridotites: new contributions from Hyblean peridotite xenoliths (southeastern Sicily)

“…The overall agreement of the different geological viewpoints (petrology and geochemistry, geophysics, and geology) considered by Manuella et al ( , 2014Manuella et al ( , 2015a confirms the existence of an ancient oceanic basement extending from southeastern Sicily to the Sicily Channel, in continuity with the adjacent Ionian oceanic basin, inferred as belonging to the Oman-IraqLevantine-Sicily-Texas oceanic seaway (Vai, 1994(Vai, , 2003. Therefore, this interdisciplinary approach validates the hypotheses proposed by Scribano et al (2006a,b) contradicting the existence of the African continental plate beneath the Hyblean Plateau and its off-shore areas, even though further investigations will be necessary to better refine this lithospheric model.…”

“…Both data fit exactly with the age of the further expansion of the Permian Tethys, which separated Laurasia from western Gondwana (Manuella et al, 2015a;Vai, 2003) during the Late Permian-Late…”

“…A more complete geological and structural description of the region is reported by Manuella et al (2015a).…”

“…In fact, serpentine veins are generally considered clues to water/rock interaction, mass transfer and deformation history (Andreani et al, 2007). We have also evaluated the role of serpentinization in fluid-controlled metasomatism in the serpentinized peridotites, dominantly constituting the Permian Tethys basement sampled at different level by Hyblean diatremes (Manuella et al, , 2014(Manuella et al, , 2015a. To achieve this objective, we have considered the complete dataset of 21 whole-rock analyses of Hyblean peridotites (Table A1), and compared them to hydrothermal clays from the St. Demetrio hill ( Fig.…”

“…a porphyroclastic texture (the dominant texture in Hyblean peridotite xenoliths; Manuella et al, 2015a). Although a wide and complex serpentine vein network crosscuts and envelopes olivine grains, the coherent extinction of the relic grains led us to infer their original size and shape, hence their textural relationships and modal abundances.…”