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Archaeomagnetic dating using full geomagnetic vector was performed on three furnaces cropping out at San Genesio archaeological zone, an ancient settlement located in the Arno River plain, near San Miniato (Pisa). The first evidence of human presence in this area dates back to the period between the VI century BCE and 1248 CE, when the village of San Genesio was destroyed by the inhabitants of the nearby castle of San Miniato. Three burned structures were located at different stratigraphic levels. The SGEN01 represents a kiln to produce pottery. The SGEN02 is probably a furnace for domestic use, while the SGEN03 is interpreted as a metallurgic kiln due to the presence of some hematite fragments possibly coming from Elba Island. Both mean paleodirections and absolute intensity were compared with the global geomagnetic model SCHA.DIF4K (Pavón-Carrasco et al., 2021) for Europe. The obtained age intervals at the 65% probability are 846-911 CE for SGEN01, 696-799 CE for SGEN02, and 623-644 CE for SGEN03. These new absolute dates agree well with their archaeological/stratigraphic position and with the history of the archaeological place.

Textural and mineralogical study of high-temperature, angular blocks erupted during the Stromboli explosion of 15 March 2007 was used to make inferences on the nature and thermal state of rocks forming the subsurface of the volcano' summit crater terrace. The studied ejecta consist of lapilli tuff that formed as a result of the transformation and high temperature induration (sintering) of the basaltic scoriae, lapilli and ash originally accumulated as loose tephra during the current activity of the volcano. The main processes leading to the tephra transformation were investigated through microstructural observations, mineral and glass analyses (SEM-EDS and EMP analyses). Investigations revealed that subsolidus reactions and partial melting of the tephra occurred, at temperatures higher than 600 °C and under variable fO 2 conditions from QFM to HM buffering curves. In some blocks, evidence of high-T reheating and partial melting at the expense of secondary hydrothermal minerals was also observed. In order to track the subsolidus reheating history of the basaltic pyroclasts, a detailed study of the pseudomorphic phases and reactions after olivine, driven by iron oxidation under high-T conditions, was performed. The observed mineralogical transformation suggests that the lapilli tuff material, originating from the burial of tephra routinely accumulated by persistent Strombolian explosions within the crater terrace, were in some cases altered by the circulation of acidic fluids and were in any case reheated due to isotherm rise forced by high heat flux and gas streaming delivered by the underlying magma system. It is worth noting that the ejection of these unusual volcanic lithotypes was possible because a few days before the 15 March 2007 event, the craters were clogged with lapilli tuff material that slid into the crater bottom between 7 and 9 March. Findings of this study suggest that the scattered permanently active vents and shallow conduits of Stromboli are surrounded sideways and underneath the crater terrace, by a fairly large volume of high temperature rocks with variable degree of compaction, sintering up to partially melted. Such a spectrum of rock types is in good agreement with the conceptual model of prominent thermal zoning all around (sideway and upwards) the active magmatic system. We speculate that continuous migration upwards of isotherms led to transformation and partial melting of the normal Strombolian tephra.

Three small-scale paroxysmal explosions (also called major explosions) interrupted ordinary mild Strombolian activity at Stromboli on May 3, November 8 and 24, 2009. Products were largely confined to the summit area, except in the November 24 event, during which coarse pumiceous lapilli reached the coast. Emission of crystal-poor pumice closely mingled with crystal-rich products characterized the three events. The textural and chemical study of minerals and glassy matrices revealed that the two end-members are mingled together physically in the May 3 and November 24 pumice, whereas November 8 products contain heterogeneous glass with intermediate compositions derived from chemical mixing between crystal-rich and crystal-poor magmas. We here discuss the different degrees of interaction between the two magmas in the three explosions in terms of magma dynamics during small-scale paroxysms.

This study focuses on a pyroclastic sequence related to a large-scale paroxysm that occurred during the seventeenth century ad and which can be considered one of the most powerful and hazardous explosive events at the volcano in the past few centuries. Paroxysms are energetic, short-lived explosions which sporadically interrupt normal Strombolian activity at Stromboli and commonly erupt a deep-derived, volatile-rich crystal-poor high-potassium basalt (“low porphyricity” (LP)), together with a shallow, degassed crystal-rich high-potassium to shoshonitic basalt (“high porphyricity” (HP)), which feed normal activity at the volcano. The studied deposit, crops out along the flanks of Sciara del Fuoco and, from base to top, consists of: (1) a layer of HP and LP ash and lapilli; (2) an unwelded layer of coarse HP lapilli and flattened dark scoriae; (3) weakly welded spatter made up of dense HP pyroclasts at the base, overlain by strongly vesicular LP clasts. The textural and chemical zoning of minerals and the glass chemistry of the LP products record repeated mafic recharge events, mixing with an old mushy body and episodes of rapid crystallization due to sudden degassing. Collapse of a foam layer originated by deep degassing probably triggered this large-scale, spatter-forming paroxysm. Decompression induced rapid degassing and vesiculation of the deep volatile-rich magma. The rapid ascent of the foamy magma blob pushed the shallow HP magma out and finally produced a fire fountain that emplaced the LP portion of the spatter.