Ordovician volcanism of the Peloritan Mountains (Sicily): Implications for evolution of Palaeozoic basins in the Calabrian‐Peloritan Arc

Abstract The palaeontologically dated Ordovician associations of the Peloritan Mountains consist of metasilts, metapelites, calc‐schists and metavolcanic rocks. These rocks form a portion of a terrigenous‐volcanic‐carbonate sequence of Cambro‐Ordovician to Carboniferous age. This Palaeozoic sequence occupies the lower tectonic position in a Variscan orogen, affected by later Alpine deformation. The upper portion of this orogen is formed by low to high grade metamorphic rocks and some rare magmatic rocks. The Ordovician section of the sequence is divisible into a lower part (probably Arenigian), characterized by frequent and extensive within‐plate alkaline metabasalts, and an upper part characterized by metadacites and metarhyolites intercalated with metasediments, commonly carbonates. The chemical characteristics of the metavolcanic rocks and the composition and structure of the metasediments indicate the persistence of tensional conditions during the Lower Ordovician. In contrast, the Upper Ordovician was marked by reducing tension, stagnation of basaltic magmas at different crustal levels, and consequent formation of dacitic and rhyolitic melts by partial melting of the surrounding crust. A comparison of the Ordovician sequences of the Peloritan Mountains with those of the Calabrian Palaeozoic basins shows several geodynamic similarities. Among other circum‐Mediterranean basins, only that of north‐western Bulgaria shows good analogies.