Cassandra Lakes, Airale Valley, Torreggio Valley, Torre di Santa Maria, Sondrio Province, Lombardy, Italyi

Regional Level Types
Cassandra Lakes	Group of Lakes
Airale Valley	Valley
Torreggio Valley	Valley
Torre di Santa Maria	Municipality
Sondrio Province	Province
Lombardy	Region
Italy	Country

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PhotosMapsSearchMineralogy

Minerals are found in rodingite and amphibolite rocks.

The former are mainly found to the NW of the lake located at the altitude of 2464 m, where rodingite blocks are dispersed in the rocky debris. Garnet crystals appear in different colours and habits: red-brown to black icositetrahedral crystals often show faces of rhombododecahedron and hexakis octahedron, yellow rhombododecahedral crystals (which are traditionally referred to as topazolite) sometimes show a more complex habit with faces of tetrakishexahedron, cube, and icositetrahedron. The paragenesis includes epidote, clinochlore, and calcite (Sigismund, 1948; Gramaccioli, 1962; Bedogné et al., 1993). Vesuvianite, as coffee-brown or greenish crystals and as green iso-oriented crystals in association with greyish-yellow titanite and clinochlore, was described by Sigismund (1948). In the associated chloritic facies, the mineral assemblage comprises ilmenite, magnetite, apatite, and perovskite (brown cubes up to 3 cm).

The latter crop out at various sites above and below the lake mentioned above, in particular: to the S of the rocky spur, located between the two tongues of Cassandra glacier and culminating at the elevation of 2938 m, where the paragenesis includes crystals of pinkish or lilac titanite, albite, prehnite, and quartz; to the SW of it, where the paragenesis includes crystals of thomsonite-Ca, prehnite, titanite, albite, and amphibole; in the crags underneath the mentioned spur, where prehnite, chlorite, and a white radiated zeolite (scolecite?) have been found; below the lake, to the N of the path leading to Capanna Desio, where amphibolite beds intersected by albite veins and rich in fissures and cavities contain prehnite, titanite, epidote-clinozoisite, quartz, albite, and chlorite.

Note: the four (two larger and two smaller) Cassandra lakes are located to the SE of Cassandra glacier, which covers the southern slope of Mount Disgrazia (3678 m), and to the S of Pizzo Cassandra (3226 m). According to De Bernardi et al. (1993), the name of the lakes, as well as that of the neighbour Pizzo Cassandra, is not derived from the famous character of Greek mythology, but very likely from an archaic dialectal word indicating a gorge, a narrow ravine, and alludes to the couloir that descends from the lakes towards Torreggio stream.

Provided coordinates are approximate because the lakes are not visible in the available satellite images (winter season).

Mineral List

14 valid minerals.