Crystal-rich mass flow deposits related to the eruption of a sublacustrine silicic cryptodome (Early Permian Collio Basin, Italian Alps)

Sedimentological, granulometric and petrographic data are presented from a detailed study on a crystal-rich mass flow deposit, which is presumably related to the eruption of a sublacustrine cryptodome. The deposit forms a prominent intercalation in the Lower Permian Collio Formation in the Italian Alps north of Brescia. Outcrops of the 10–20-m-thick volcaniclastic deposit (Dasdana I Beds, DB) can be traced over 12 km from east to west. The DB consists of a thick, crystal-rich, sandy–gravelly lower subunit representing a sequence of amalgamated Bouma-a(b) divisions overlain by a thin, well-bedded, sandy–muddy subunit that is rich in outsize porphyritic silicic fragments. Modal and computer-aided image analyses reveal that the crystal-rich lower subunit contains up to 80% of volcanogenic crystals. Some samples contain up to 60% of porphyritic fragments, which have a phenocryst content of about 20%. The wide textural range from cryptocrystalline, poikilomosaic, to rarer medium-grained granophyric groundmass, the irregular to lensoid shapes of the porphyritic fragments, and the presence of basement and sedimentary clasts suggest that the DB originated from a sublacustrine eruption of a partially extrusive cryptodome (ca. 1.6 km³). Two other porphyritic felsic cryptodomes (Dosso dei Lupi, Dosso del Bue), described briefly here, emplaced into the Collio Formation sometime after the DB event, and expose flat bases and tilted sediments at their sides. Textures observed in these domes are comparable to those found in the DB porphyritic fragments.