Geological origins of the Island of Elba in the Tuscan Archipelago

The myth tells that Aphrodite, taken by "the virginal love talks, and laughter, and deceptions, and the sweet solace with the sweetest kisses of honey" (Hesiod, Theogony), being born already as a woman from the foam of the sea, slipped her necklace off her neck, and its pearls settled on the surface of the waters. Seven fell between Tuscany and Corsica, giving rise to the Tuscan Archipelago, of which the Island of Elba is the largest pearl.

Geology tells us of a completely different origin, different but no less fascinating.

We must go back to the time of the drift of the continents, when Pangea began to break apart, opening new oceans and closing others, and specifically, we must go back to the collision between the proto-African plate and the proto-European plate, their subsequent rotation, and their separation.

The continuous movements of these two plates (lasting over 100 million years) led to the sinking of entire crustal blocks, invaded by sea waters, and the simultaneous thinning of the Earth's surface.

This process favored the rise of a magmatic mass, which, cooling near the surface, turned into granite rock and began to exert a strong pressure on the rocky states on the surface.

This is the pluton of Monte Capanne, the progenitor of the entire Tuscan Archipelago, which, when emerging on the surface, caused the sliding of sedimentary rocks towards the east, giving rise to the plains of the central area of the Island of Elba, and exerting a greater pressure in the eastern area, hindering the emergence of a second pluton.

The position of this second eastern pluton, smaller than the western one, manifests itself on the surface through magmatic veins that, in contact with hydrothermal fluids and pre-existing sedimentary and limestone rocks, give rise to the great and famous mineral wealth of the Island of Elba.

If the median belt, where Monte Capanne rises, is mainly composed of granites, tourmalines, beryls, serpentines, and porphyries, and the central belt is made up, to the east, of diabases and serpentines, and to the west, of quartz porphyry, alberese, and granite, the eastern belt presents a greater complexity of composition.

The southern part of Monte Calamita and the stretch of coastline between Porto Azzurro and Rio Marina is made of paleozoic mica schists, feldspar, quartz, tourmaline, marbles, dolomites; in the Capoliveri area, there are porphyries and limestone masses; the northern part is the richest in iron minerals, such as oligist, limonite, and magnetite, as well as shale and carbonaceous slates, Permian sandstones and puddingstones, and Mesozoic limestones.

Curiosity: Thanks to the data collected as part of the CARG project of the Geological Survey of Italy (ISPRA), the Tuscany Region, and the University of Florence, in 2015 the new Geological Map of the Island of Elba was created and presented.
This project also led to the creation of a series of geological maps for educational purposes titled "Geological Itineraries": a tourist-cultural guide to discover those places that are particularly significant for understanding the history and geological evolution of the Elba territory.
View the Geological Map of the Island of Elba