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The Quaternary succession of the Bulè and Alpetto valleys (Monviso Massif, ) as a possible supply for prehistoric jade axes raw material

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06 October 2021

This is an author version of the contribution published on: Questa è la versione dell’autore dell’opera: The Quaternary succession of the Bulè and Alpetto valleys (Monviso Massif, Piedmont) as a possible supply for prehistoric jade axes raw material

Rendiconti Lincei, 26, 2015, DOI: 10.1007/s12210-015-0464-8

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The Quaternary succession of the Bulè and Alpetto valleys (Monviso Massif, Piedmont) as a possible supply for prehistoric jade axes raw material1 M. Gabriella Forno 2*, Silvia Avondetto2, Chiara Teresa Groppo2, Franco Rolfo2

2 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli studi di Torino, Via Valperga Caluso 35, 10125 Torino *Corresponding author: M.G. Forno [email protected]

1 This contribution is the extended, peer reviewed version of a paper presented at the conference THE FUTURE OF THE ITALIAN GEOSCIENCES, THE ITALIAN GEOSCIENCES OF THE FUTURE” held in Milano on September 10-12, 2014. Manuscript Click here to download Manuscript: Oncino definitivo.docx

The Quaternary succession of the Bulè and Alpetto valleys (Monviso Massif, Piedmont) as a 1 possible supply for prehistoric jade axes raw material1 2 2* 2 2 2 3 M. Gabriella Forno , Silvia Avondetto , Chiara Teresa Groppo , Franco Rolfo 4 5 2 Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, Università degli studi di Torino, Via Valperga Caluso 35, 10125 Torino 6 *Corresponding author: M.G. Forno [email protected] 7 8 9 Abstract 10 This contribution presents a geological mapping of the Quaternary succession of the Bulè and low 11 Alpetto tributary valleys ( Valley, Piedmont), together with preliminary data on its petrography. 12 13 The investigated area, covering an altitude range between 3015 and 1485 meters a.s.l., is located in 14 the Monviso Massif Ophiolite Complex, at the contact with marble and calcschist of the Dora- 15 16 Maira Massif cover. 17 The Quaternary sequence mainly consists of glacial, outwash, debris and landslide deposits, with 18 local torrential/avalanche and colluvial bodies. The investigation on the petrographic composition 19 20 of these sediments has allowed to recognize the occasional occurrence of jadeitite boulders, likely 21 exploited during the Neolithic period for axe head production. Four possible jadeitite blocks have 22 3 23 been found, one of them is described here for the first time, sizing up to 1 m . In detail, one of the 24 finds is a Neolithic site of jade polishing in the high Bulè Valley, that was referred to the middle of 25 V millennium B.C. (Allisio, 2012). The jadeitite blocks have been found in the debris (site a), 26 27 landslide (site b), glacial (site c) and outwash (site d) sediments. The petrographic characterization 28 of the new jadeitite samples, might potentially shed light on the still controversial genesis of these 29 30 peculiar rocks. 31 32 Key words: Monviso Massif, prehistoric jade axes, Quaternary succession, jadeitite 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 1 This contribution is the extended, peer reviewed version of a paper presented at the session “Archaeometry 58 andCultural Heritage: the contribution of Geosciences” held during the conference “The future of the Italian 59 Geosciences, the Italian Geosciences of the future” organized by the Società Geologica Italiana and the Società Italiana 60 61 di Mineralogia e Petrologia, Milano, September 10-12, 2014. 62 63 64 65

1 2 3 1. Introduction 4 5 In the Antiquity Museum of Torino several ancient axes made of jadeitite and omphacitite are 6 7 exposed, related to the Neolithic period (Compagnoni et al. 1995). The petrographic composition of 8 9 the jadeitite axes, representing the most typical finds, suggests to previous authors a supply from the 10 , particularly from the Monviso Massif (Compagnoni et al. 2007). The petrographic 11 12 composition of the jadeitite axes was already studied in detail by previous research and will not be 13 14 further discussed in this paper. It is possible that the prehistoric man not directly scooped the 15 16 bedrock, the more difficult to sample because at high altitude and not easily accessible, but used 17 18 instead some ready boulders contained in the Quaternary sediments located at lower altitude than 19 the source outcrops (Allisio 2012). 20 21 What is actually missing is an exhaustive characterization of the nature of Quaternary sediments in 22 23 which these jadeitite blocks are found. The recognition of the nature of such deposits could 24 25 eventually led to the discovery of other jadeitite blocks still unknown and to the understanding of 26 27 the Quaternary glacial and post-glacial evolution of the area. 28 29 A detailed mapping of the Quaternary succession of the Monviso sector , however, is still missing. 30 The main goal of the present study is, therefore, to provide the geologic setting of these sediments 31 32 in the Bulè and Alpetto valleys, the most promising localities for the supply of jadeitite clasts. This 33 34 research is useful to clarify the location of some boulders and clasts used as raw material for the axe 35 36 production in the framework of the Quaternary succession of the Bulè and Alpetto Valleys. Another 37 38 purpose of this study is to make a petrographic analysis of the clasts within the different types of 39 40 Quaternary deposits, useful to infer possible different lithologies and source outcrops within the 41 different units in the Monviso Massif. 42 43 This study represents, therefore, an example of the combined use of both Quaternary geology and 44 45 petrography, providing a contribute useful to clarify an archeological issue. 46 47 48 49 2. Methods 50 51 A detailed geological and geomorphological survey on the field and a traditional and digital 52 analysis of aerial photos were carried out in order to map the Quaternary succession. The 53 54 distribution of the Quaternary sediments was reported on the Carta Tecnica Regionale (CTR) of the 55 56 Regional Agency for the Protection of the Environment (A.R.P.A. Piemonte), at the 1:10000 scale. 57 58 Different units have been distinguished within the Quaternary succession, basing on the sediments 59 60 facies. 61 62 63 64 65 A petrographic analysis of the Quaternary sediments was devoted to the study of representative 1 2 boulders outcropping on the surface of the studied Quaternary succession, because of lack of 3 outcrops. In order to achieve these results, the most promising boulders were selected in the field on 4 5 the basis of their mesoscopic petrographic features. Representative thin sections of the selected 6 7 boulders were studied by means of transmitted polarized light petrographic microscopy. Because a 8 9 detailed minero-chemical study of the jadeitite is beyond the aim of this paper, only the main 10 11 petrographic features of the jadeitite are discussed, with particular attention to the newly discovered 12 13 block (site d). 14 15 16 17 3. Finds of jadeitite axes in the Western Alps 18 19 The Monviso Massif in the Western Alps is regarded as one of the main production areas of 20 21 Neolithic axes made with “green stones” (Pétrequin et al. 2005). In particular, the Monviso Massif 22 23 was recently reported to be especially important for the supply of Neolithic axes made with jadeitite 24 (Compagnoni and Rolfo 2003). Jadeitite outcrops, mostly associated with ultramafic bodies, are 25 26 extremely rare and the Western Alps is one of the few areas in the world where jadeitite 27 28 occurrences have been reported so far (Fig. 1). The high specific weight, toughness and hardness of 29 30 the jadeitite, coupled with its peculiar green color, make this lithology particularly suitable for the 31 32 building of tools. The archaeological finds suggest that these “green stones” axes have got a wide 33 34 spread in the Neolithic period, reaching for example all of Western Europe (France, Germany, 35 Spain and England) (Harlow and Sorensen 2005; Fig. 2). 36 37 The Monviso jadeitite is macroscopically a generally homogeneous, fine-grained rock, pale green in 38 39 color and mainly consisting of jadeite (Na-Al-pyroxene). However, it may locally contain irregular 40 41 cm-sized coarse-grained pockets and veins or even pegmatoidal portions, rich in various minerals as 42 43 for instance phlogopite, chlorite, garnet (Compagnoni et al. 2007). Genetically, the Monviso 44 45 jadeitite is considered as the metamorphic equivalent of former trondhjemites, i.e. the final products 46 of the oceanic basalt magmatic differentiation process, originally occurring as dykes cutting across 47 48 upper-mantle peridotite, later hydrated to serpentinite and subsequently affected by regional 49 50 metamorphism (Compagnoni et al. 2007). 51 52 In the investigated area the jadeitite is associated with the Serpentinite Basal Unit of the Monviso 53 th 54 Ophiolite Complex (see Fig. 5). During the Neolithic, and mainly in the 5 millennium BC, the 55 jadeitite was mainly extracted from Quaternary sediments (Allisio 2012). The boulders were then 56 57 subjected to the action of fire to extract blocks and splinters with smooth surface, later worked with 58 59 the firing pin. 60 61 62 63 64 65 4. Geological features 1 2 The investigated area (Fig. 3) is located in the Monviso Massif, in the southern sector of the 3 Western Alps (Fig. 4). In detail, it regards the Bulè and Alpetto valleys, tributaries of the Po Valley. 4 5 The Monviso Massif is one of the most representative and best preserved ophiolite bodies in the 6 7 Alps (Monviso Ophiolite Complex, Fig. 5), tectonically emplaced between the underlying 8 9 continental-derived Dora-Maira thrust units (Dora Maira Calcshist in Fig. 6 ) and the ocean-derived 10 11 Piemonte Zone metasedimentary units (Piedmont Calcshist in Fig. 6) (Rolfo et al. 2015). As one of 12 13 the biggest preserved relics of oceanic crust in the Western Alps, it formed during the Mesozoic 14 opening of the Western Alpine Tethys and subsequently underwent high-pressure (eclogitic) 15 16 metamorphism during the Alpine subduction (e.g. Lombardo et al,1978). The Monviso Massif 17 18 encompasses the whole lithological spectrum of the Piemonte-Ligurian ophiolites, with 19 20 metamorphic rocks derived from former peridotite, Mg-Al-rich and Fe-Ti-rich gabbro, dolerite, 21 22 basalt, as well as cover sediments (Rolfo et al. 2014). 23 24 The studied area shows an extensive Quaternary cover, referred to the upper Pleistocene (glacial 25 and outwash deposits) and Holocene (debris, landslide, torrential/avalanche and colluvial deposits). 26 27 The subglacial sediments (2 in Fig. 6) are instead very widespread in the entire valleys. They form 28 29 large sectors of both sides of the glacial valleys, forming typical rounded morphologies. They 30 31 consist of an abundant silty-sandy matrix, over-consolidated, incorporating few, prevalently 32 33 rounded, boulders. 34 35 The supraglacial sediments (2 in Fig. 6) are also very abundant in the intermediate and low stretches 36 of the valleys, forming numerous moraines connected to very different configurations of the Bulè 37 38 and Alpetto glaciers. They consist of several boulders highly variable in size, between few 39 40 centimeters to about a thousand of meters in size. 41 42 The petrographic composition of both facies of the glacial sediments is very heterogeneous, 43 44 consisting of a mixture of the various lithologies outcropping in the whole basin (eclogite, 45 metagabbro, prasinite, serpentinite and calcschist with subordinate quartzite and marble). The 46 47 abundance of the various lithotypes of the supraglacial sediments forming the moraines was 48 49 investigated in detail. Jadeitite boulders and clasts resulted very subordinate with respect to gabbro, 50 51 eclogite and prasinite, reflecting the abundance of these rocks in the source outcrops at the head of 52 53 the valleys. 54 55 The outwash sediments are mainly located in the low stretches of the valleys, forming wide flat 56 outwash fans (2 in Fig. 6). They consist of prevalently rounded boulders, between few centimeters 57 58 to 1 meter in size, mixed to a prevalently coarse sandy matrix. The petrographic composition of 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 these sediments is even heterogeneous, also representative of the whole basin, due to their origin by 1 2 re-sedimentation of the glacial sequence. 3 The debris sediments are particularly abundant in the upper stretch of the Bulè and Alpetto valleys 4 5 forming wide, very steep, debris fans (3 in Fig. 6). These sediments consist of angular rock 6 7 fragments, between 1 dm3 and 1 m3 in size. The petrographic features of fragments are relatively 8 9 monotonous, and closely linked to the bedrock forming the overhanging cliffs. The occurrence of 10 11 numerous rock glaciers of various size indicates that the debris sediments are frequently re-moved, 12 13 due to the interstitial ice, forming peculiar set of arched landforms. 14 The landslide sediments are located in the upper stretches of the valleys, reworking both the 15 16 bedrock as well as the glacial and debris succession (5 in Fig. 6). The landslide bodies have a wide 17 18 between some thousands of m2 and about 1 km2. The sediments consist of boulders highly variable 19 20 in size, mixed to an abundant, soft sandy-silty matrix. The petrography of fragments is prevalently 21 22 monotonous, linked to the bedrock forming the detaching niches, with the exception of the clasts 23 24 deriving from the reworking of glacial deposits. 25 Few small bodies of fluvial, torrential/avalanche, forming small fans, and colluvial sediments are 26 27 located in various places of the studied area (4, 6 and 7 in Fig. 6). 28 29 30 31 5. Jadeitite remains in the studied area 32 33 Regarding the Quaternary succession as a possible source for the prehistoric jadeitite axes, we 34 35 report the finds in the quaternary sediments of the studied area. Among them, an angular block of 36 jadeitite (ca. 1 m3 in size) is associated to debris sediments on the northern side of Punta Rasciassa 37 38 (site a in Figs. 6, 7 and 8) and is already reported by Compagnoni et al. (2007) and Pétrequin et al. 39 40 (2012). Some centimetric fragments of jadeitite and omphacitite were found, probably forming a 41 42 larger boulder associated to landslide sediments, in the upper Bulè Valley (site b in Figs. 6, 7 and 43 44 8). Among those studied in this paper, this is the only site where, according to Pétrequin et al. 45 (2012), the fragments seem to be worked by the prehistoric man. Another sub-angular pebble (ca. 1 46 47 m3 in size) macroscopically resembling jadeitite, was found in the low Alpetto Valley in the 48 49 supraglacial sediments (site c in Figs. 6, 7 and 8) and was also reported by Pétrequin et al. (2012). 50 51 The petrographic analysis of this sample, however, showed that it consists of a fine-grained 52 3 53 eclogite. Finally, during the present survey one sub-rounded pebble of jadeitite (ca. 1 m in size) 54 55 was found associated to outwash sediments in the lower Bulè Valley (site d in Figs. 6, 7 and 8) 56 (Avondetto 2014). 57 58 It is worth-noting that this new finding is, to our knowledge, the only jadeitite block associated to a 59 60 Quaternary deposit of glacial nature (outwash sediments), being the other two (site a and b in Figs. 61 62 63 64 65 6 and 7) associated to debris and landslide sediments, respectively. This implies that the jadeitite 1 2 block of site (d) experienced a longer-distance transportation from the source outcrop than the other 3 blocks. The detailed study of the petrography of the outwash sediments (as well as subglacial and 4 5 supraglacial sediments) downstream with respect to the present finding could potentially led to the 6 7 discovery of other jadeitite blocks, even more accessible than that of site (d). 8 9 The petrographic features of the Monviso jadeitite blocks are remarkably homogeneous and similar 10 11 to those described by Compagnoni et al. (2007). In hand specimen, the jadeitite is a very pale grass 12 13 green, fine-grained massive rock (site a Fig. 9A). The jadeitite locally contains irregular centimeter- 14 sized, coarse-grained, phlogopite-rich pockets and veins. Locally, coarse-grained portions with 15 16 peculiar pegmatoid grain size occur and consist of centimetre-sized crystals of bright green 17 18 clinopyroxene (site d Fig. 9B) and light grey chlorite flakes. Most jadeitite blocks are mantled by 19 20 darker retrogression margins from 10 to 20 cm thick (site a in Fig. 9C). 21 22 Under the microscope, the jadeitite is heterogeneous, being formed by variously distributed: 1) 23 24 portions mainly consisting of clear, inclusion free, clinopyroxene; 2) portions where clinopyroxene 25 is associated with up to about 10 vol.% of rutile; 3) portions with dusty clinopyroxene, crowded of 26 27 micron-sized inclusions of titanite, and 4) portions with coarser grained veins and pockets of 28 29 phlogopite + Mg-chlorite. In all portions, the clinopyroxene occurs as aggregates of interlocked 30 31 blocky crystals less than 0.5 mm across, which systematically show, from core to rim, a strong and 32 33 sharp compositional zoning. Locally in the fine grained matrix, coarser clinopyroxenes up to several 34 35 mm across occur with a cloudy core, crowded with very fine grained oriented inclusions (Fig. 11), 36 which appear to be relict portions, most probably derived from former igneous crystals. Distinctive 37 38 accessory minerals are zircons, few micrometers across, commonly showing a blocky prismatic 39 40 shape. 41 42 Veins and intergranular pockets consist of randomly oriented clusters of idioblastic clinopyroxene 43 44 surrounded by xenoblastic albite or phlogopite and Mg-chlorite. A light purple allanite locally 45 occurs as poikiloblasts in both the rock matrix and the veins. 46 47 The portion with pegmatoid grain-size consists of greenish clinopyroxene domains and chlorite ± 48 49 phlogopite, which may include clinopyroxene needles. Very few small garnets (<1 mm) locally 50 51 occur, which are partially retrogressed to chlorite. 52 53 54 55 6. Preliminary conclusions 56 The geological surveys of the Bulè and low Alpetto tributary valleys show the wide distribution of 57 58 the Quaternary succession, consisting of glacial, outwash, debris and landslide deposits with local 59 60 torrential/avalanche and colluvial bodies. The investigation on the petrographic composition of 61 62 63 64 65 these sediments has allowed to recognize the occasional occurrence of jadeitite boulders, likely 1 2 exploited during the Neolithic period for axe head production (Allisio 2012). Four possible jadeitite 3 blocks have been found, one of them for the first time, sizing up to 1 m3 supplied by debris (site a), 4 5 landslide (site b), supraglacial (site c) and outwash (site d) sediments. The petrographic analyses 6 7 confirm that three of them (site a, b, d) are jadeitite and the fourth is an eclogite (site c). 8 9 The systematic search of the jadeitite boulders being part of the Quaternary sediments and their 10 11 petrographic characterization allow us to draw some preliminary results. Few boulders, though very 12 13 limited in number, consist of jadeitite, thus confirming the occurrence of this peculiar lithology in 14 the Monviso Ophiolite Complex and its possible use by the prehistoric man. 15 16 However, the different finds of jadeitite reported in this study have clearly a different Quaternary 17 18 setting which can be directly related to the interpretation of their source areas. For instance, the 19 20 jadeitite boulders in the debris and landslide sediments obviously derive by the cliffs directly above, 21 22 while the jadeitite boulders in the glacial and outwash sediments can instead supply from very far 23 24 glacial cirques at the head of the valleys. 25 26 27 References 28 29 Allisio G. (2012) La Preistoria e l’alta , Lar Editore, 95 pp. 30 31 Avondetto S. (2014) I depositi quaternari del Vallone Bulè (Valle Po) come possibile fonte di 32 approvvigionamento per le asce preistoriche in giadeitite, Tesi di Laurea Magistrale, Scuola di 33 34 Scienze della Natura di Torino, 134 pp. 35 36 Compagnoni R., Ricq-de-Bouard M., Giustetto R., Colombo F. (1995) Eclogite and Na-pyroxenite 37 stone axes of southwestern Europe: a preliminary petrologic survey. In: Lombardo B. (ed.), Studies 38 on metamorphic rocks and minerals of the western Alps. A volume in memory of Ugo Pognante, 39 Boll. Museo Reg. Sci. Nat. (Torino), 13, 329-359. 40 41 42 Compagnoni R, Rolfo F (2003) First finding of jadeite in the serpentinite melange of Monviso 43 meta-ophiolite, western Alps. Geological Survey of Norway, Report n° 2003.055:37-38 44 45 Compagnoni R, Rolfo F, Manavella F, Salusso F (2007) Jadeitite in the Monviso meta-ophiolite, 46 Piemonte Zone, Italian Western Alps. Period Mineral 76:79-89 47 48 Compagnoni R, Rolfo F, Castelli D (2012) Jadeitite from the Monviso meta-ophiolite, Western 49 50 Alps: occurrence and genesis from an oceanic plagiogranite. Eur J Mineral 24:333-343 51 52 Harlow GE, Sorensen SS (2005) Jade (Nephrite and Jadeitite) and Serpentinite: Metasomatic 53 Connections. Int Geol Rev 47:113-146 54 55 Lombardo B, Nervo R, Compagnoni R, Messiga B, Kienast JR, Mével C, Fiora L, Piccardo GB, 56 Lanza R (1978) Osservazioni preliminari sulle ofioliti metamorfiche del Monviso (Alpi 57 Occidentali). Rend Soc It Miner Petrol 34:253-305 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 Pétrequin P, Pétrequin AM, Errera M, Cassen S, Croutsch C, Klassen L, Rossy M, Garibaldi P, 1 Isetti E, Rossi G, Delcaro D (2005) Beigua, Monviso e Valais: all’origine delle grandi asce levigate 2 di origine alpina in Europa occidentale durante il V millennio. Riv Sci Preistor 55:265-322 3 4 5 Pétrequin P, Cassen S, Errera M, Klassen L, Sheridan A, Pétrequin AM (2012) Jade: grandes 6 haches alpines du Néolithique européen, V et VI millénaires av. J.-C. Besançon, Presses 7 universitaires de Franche-Comté et Centre de recherche archéologique de la Vallée de l'Ain. ISBN: 8 978-2-84867-412-4 9 10 11 Rolfo F, Benna P, Cadoppi P, Castelli D, Favero-Longo S, Giardino M, Balestro G, Belluso E, 12 Borghi A, Cámara F, Compagnoni R, Ferrando S, Festa A, Forno MG, Giacometti F, Gianotti F, 13 Groppo C, Lombardo B, Mosca P, Perrone G, Piervittori R, Rebay G, Rossetti P (2015) The 14 Monviso Massif and the as symbols of the Alpine chain and geological heritage in 15 16 Piemonte, . Gehoeritage 7:65-84 17 18 Rolfo F, Balestro G, Borghi A, Castelli D, Ferrando S, Groppo C, Mosca P, Rossetti P (2015) The 19 Monviso Ophiolite Geopark, a Symbol of the Alpine Chain and Geological Heritage in Piemonte, 20 Italy. In: Lollino G et al. (eds) Engineering Geology for Society and Territory 8:239-243, Springer 21 22 International Publishing Switzerland 23 24 25 Figure captions 26 27 Figure 1 - Distribution of jadeitite outcrops in the world (modified from Harlow and Sorensen 2005). 28 29 Figure 2 - Distribution of green stones axes (jadeitite and omphacitite ) in Europe (modified from Pétrequin et al. 30 2012). 31 32 Figure 3 - Panoramic view of the Monviso from NNE (Pian della Regina). 33 34 Figure 4 - Location of the Monviso area (red star) in the framework of the Western Italian Alps. 35 36 Figure 5 - Geological cross section of the metamorphic units in the Monviso Massif. CB: basal calcschist and marl; 37 USB: basal serpentinite Unit; USL: Lago Superiore Unit; UVM: Viso Mozzo Unit; UPG: Passo Gallarino Unit; 38 UCT: Costa Ticino Unit; UV: Vallanta Unit; CO: calcschist (modified from Lombardo et al. 1978). 39 40 Figure 6 - Simplified geological map of the Quaternary succession of the Bulè and Alpetto valleys. The location of the 41 collected jadeitite (sites a, b, d) and eclogite finds (site c) are also reported (red and green stars, respectively). 42 43 Figure 7 - Location of the collected jadeitite (red star) and eclogite (green star) in the Alpetto and Bulè valleys. The 44 sites (a, b, c, d) correspond to the sites in Figs. 8 and 9. 45 46 Figure 8 - Jadeitite and omphacitite/eclogite occurrences in the studied area. (a) Site a on the northern flank of Punta 47 Rasciassa (jadeitite). (b) Site b in the upper Bulè Valley (jadeitite and omphacitite); (c) Site c in the low Alpetto valley 48 (fine-grained eclogite); (d) Site d in the low Bulè Valley (jadeitite). 49 50 Figure 9 - Outcrop appearance of the studied jadeitite blocks. (a) Very pale grass green, fine-grained massive jadeitite 51 (site a). (b) Jadeitite with coarse-grained portion consisting of bright green clinopyroxene (site d). (c) Jadeitite block 52 mantled by darker retrogression margin mainly consisting of chlorite (site a). 53 54 Figure 10 - Microstructural features of jadeitite in the low Bulè Valley (site d) at the optical microscope (a, c: Plane 55 Polarized Light; b, d: Crossed Polarized Light). Most of the jadeite crystals show a cloudy core, crowded with very fine 56 grained oriented inclusions. 57

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 Distribution of jadeitite outcrops in the world (modified from Harlow and Sorensen, 2005). Click here to download Figure: Fig. 1.jpg Distribution of green stones axes (jadeitite and omphacitite ) in Europe (modified from Pétrequin et al., 2012). Click here to download Figure: Fig. 2.JPG Panoramic view of the Monviso from NNE (Pian della Regina). Click here to download Figure: Fig. 3.JPG Location of the Monviso area (red star) in the framework of the Western Italian Alps. Click here to download Figure: Fig. 4.jpg Geological cross section of the metamorphic units in the Monviso Massif. CB: basal calcschist and marl; USB: basal serpentinite Unit; USL: Lago Superiore Unit; UVM: Viso Mozzo Unit; UPG: Passo Gallarino Unit; UCT: Costa Ticino Unit; UV: Vallanta Unit; CO Click here to download Figure: Fig. 5.jpg Simplified geological map of the Quaternary succession of the Bulè and Alpetto valleys. The location of the collected jadeitite (sites a, b, d) and eclogite finds (site c) are also reported (red and green stars, respectively). Click here to download Figure: Fig. 6.pptx

7 Colluvial deposits (Holocene)

6 Torrential/avalanche deposits (Holocene) 5 Landslide deposits (Holocene)

4 Fluvial deposits (Holocene) 4 c 3 Debris deposits (Holocene) 6 2 Glacial and outwash deposits 2 7 (upper Pleistocene) 1 Bedrock d

5

3 1

b a Location of the collected jadeitite (red star) and eclogite (green star) in the Alpetto and Bulè valleys. The sites (a, b, c, d) correspond to the sites in Figs. 8 and 9. Click here to download Figure: Fig. 7.jpg Jadeitite and omphacitite/eclogite occurrences in the studied area. (a) Site a on the northern flank of Punta Rasciassa (jadeitite). (b) Site b in the upper Bulè Valley (jadeitite and omphacitite); (c) Site c in the low Alpetto valley (fine-grained eclogit Click here to download Figure: Fig. 8.jpg Jadeitite and omphacitite/eclogite occurrences in the studied area. (a) Site a on the northern flank of Punta Rasciassa (jadeitite). (b) Site b in the upper Bulè Valley (jadeitite and omphacitite); (c) Site c in the low Alpetto valley (fine-grained eclogit Click here to download Figure: Fig. 9.jpg Microstructural features of jadeitite in the low Bulè Valley (site d) at the optical microscope (a, c: Plane Polarized Light; b, d: Crossed Polarized Light). Most of the jadeite crystals show a cloudy core, crowded with very fine grained oriented inclusion Click here to download Figure: Fig. 10.jpg