Cinghi ophiolites (incl. Cinghio del Corvo), Palagano, Modena Province, Emilia-Romagna, Italyi

Regional Level Types
Cinghi ophiolites (incl. Cinghio del Corvo)	Group of Outcrops
Palagano	Commune
Modena Province	Province
Emilia-Romagna	Region
Italy	Country

The ophiolitic Cinghi or Cinghi di Boccassuolo are located in Dragone Valley (right side) and include the northern Poggio Bianco Dragone (formerly known as Cinghi di Toggiano) ophiolite block (a well-known historical datolite occurrence), located near Toggiano between the road connecting Palagano to Boccassuolo, and the Dragone stream bed, and the southern Cinghio del Corvo ophiolite block (formerly known as Cinghi di Vetta), located above the mentioned road.

These two ophiolite blocks, separated by a NW-SE trending subvertical fault, are part of the Boccasuolo ophiolite, which forms a N-S elongated body of about 4 x 1.5 km (among the largest in the Emilia Apennines). Quarrying works for basaltic aggregate are carried out at Cinghio del Corvo quarry (874 m; coordinates 44.29557265120902 N, 10.626613050699234 E). The ophiolite also host small copper-bearing mineralisations, mined from the 14th to the 18th century and in the period 1936-1942 (see Dragone Valley mines).

The Cinghi di Boccassuolo ophiolite is made up of an alternation of lava flows (pillow and massive basalt) intercalated with several metre thick horizons of ophiolitic sediments (breccia and sandstone), composed of clasts of basalt, chert, limestone and rare serpentinite and granite. These ophiolitic rocks tectonically overlie strongly deformed carbonaceous-argillaceous sediments, poorly exposed at the northeastern border of the ophiolite. Close to the top of the Cinghio del Corvo block (1079 m), pillow and pillow breccias are stratigraphically capped by siliciclastic sediments containing thin layers of Mn-rich clay (early pelagic sedimentation?), although, the original presence of a thick formation of chert in the sedimentary cover of the Boccassuolo ophiolite is supported by the occurrence of large blocks (up to several metres in size) of radiolarian chert within the ophiolitic breccia. The ophiolitic rocks of the Poggio Bianco Dragone block reach a maximum exposed thickness of about 350 m, with a general attitude varying from NW-dipping (~10° to 45° degrees) at the base, to nearly horizontal close to the top (Garuti et al., 2011; Kiss et al., 2015).

The sulphide mineralisation consists of a reticulate stockwork of quartz-calcite-chlorite-sulphide veins emplaced in pillow basalt and ophiolitic breccia. Major sulphide minerals are pyrite (± accessory pyrrhotite), along with variable amounts of chalcopyrite, sphalerite, and galena. The veins vary in thickness from 10 to 30 cm, but giant veins of 0.5 to 1.5 m have also been observed locally. The pillow basalt shows progressively increasing spilitic alteration from the outside towards the core of the stockwork pipe, with the appearance of disseminated pyrite (Garuti et al., 2011; Kiss et al., 2015). Individual veins cutting across pillow basalt may have weakly deformed, sharp contacts with the country rock, or display disrupted irregular boundaries generating an anastomosing texture in which centimetre to decimetre sized fragments of strongly spilitised basalt are engulfed. Veins cutting across the ophiolitic breccia have irregular, diffuse boundaries derived from permeability-controlled infiltration of fluids into the country rock. Here, the mineral corrensite has been identified as a major component of the clayey matrix of the breccia. The ophiolitic sandstone is usually barren, or weakly mineralised with infiltration of minute calcite-epidote-sulphide fissure filling and impregnation. Epigenetic veins containing abundant datolite have also been described (Zaccarini et al., 2008; Garuti et al., 2011; Kiss et al., 2015).



Note: most if not all of the mineral photos uploaded as from Boccassulo are referable to specimens collected in the Cinghi ophiolites (Cinghi di Boccassuolo) area.

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