Cima delle Pale Rosse, Valfurva, Sondrio Province, Lombardy, Italyi

Regional Level Types
Cima delle Pale Rosse	Mountain
Valfurva	Municipality
Sondrio Province	Province
Lombardy	Region
Italy	Country

Cima delle Pale Rosse, surrounded to the north and west by Vedretta della Miniera (Zebrù Valley) and to the east by Vedretta del Gran Zebrù (Cedec Valley), is a recently discovered (or re-discovered) mineral locality, characterised by the presence of different rocks and paragenesis. Minerals are found in outcrops on the cliffs of the mountain and in blocks fallen down at their foot or disseminated in the morainic accumulations of Vedretta della Miniera (http://www.mindat.org/loc-134365.html) and Vedretta del Gran Zebrù (http://www.mindat.org/loc-259763.html). The eastern slope (Cedec Valley) seems to be richer in minerals, maybe due to an easier accessibility.

The typical minerals of Cima di Pale Rosse are observed in:
1) Ludwigite-bearing fine-grained marble, cropping out near the eastern cliffs in Cedec Valley, at the contact with quartz diorite dykes. Ludwigite appears as spheroidal or radiating aggregates of greenish-black acicular crystals, up to 10 mm in length, in association with magnetite and szaibélyite. Spinel, ilmenite, and pyrite are sometimes present. Furthermore, this marble is cut by colourless or white veinlets of forsterite microcrystals.
2) Calciphyres and skarn cropping out on the cliffs in both Cedec and Zebrù valleys at the contact with quartz diorite dykes. Typical minerals of calciphyres are andradite, epidote, diopside, and meionite; typical minerals of skarn are andradite, ferro-actinolite, chamosite, magnetite, hematite, pyrite, chalcopyrite, and sphalerite. Of particular interest is the presence of hematite plates, often aggregated in "iron roses" up to 1 cm in diameter, and pyrite cubes up to 4 cm. Brookite, as orange platy crystals, and anatase, as greyish bipyramidal crystals, perched on quartz crystals have been rarely found in skarn fissures.
3) Hydrothermal mineralisations, consisting of stibnite and arsenopyrite crystals, in quartz veins and loose blocks on the eastern slope (Cedec Valley).
4) Altered porphyritic dykes, mainly located on the eastern slope (Cedec Valley) but also present in Zebrù Valley, characterised by the presence of sudoite, as grey-green pseudohexagonal plates up to 1 cm in diameter, in association with dark brown prisms of an altered amphibole.
5) Limestones and breccias with crystallised calcite inside their cavities.

Furthermore, SW concordant lenticular bodies of pyrrhotite-arsenopyrite have also been observed.

Note: differently from some calciphyres that are found at Vedretta della Miniera, no zeolites have been found (so far) in calciphyres from Cima di Pale Rosse.

Other Regions, Features and Areas containing this locality

References