A Route of Fire in Central Italy: The Latium Ancient Volcanoes

Abstract

In the western portion of Latium (Central Italy) a series of ancient, generally evident volcanic edifices and numerous lakes hosted in depressions is present. They are directly or indirectly tied to severe volcanism which occurred between 2 and 0.08 Ma ago. From a geomorphological point of view, it is possible to identify different volcanic landscapes, whose appearance mainly depends on the magma chemistry. The landscape of the Tuscan-Latium Magmatic Province, which was fed by silicic magmas, is typified by numerous lava domes, rising up from a generally flat ignimbritic plateaux. The landscape of the alkaline potassic volcanism shows strong differences that are tied to the existence or not of well-identified central volcanic edifices. In the first case the landscape is dominated by the presence of outstanding volcanic relief; in the second one many different minor emission centres are scattered over large flat areas, mainly built up by pyroclastic flows.