Reply to: “Carbonate-rich pyroclastic rocks from central Apennines: carbonatites or carbonated rocks? A commentary”. A. Peccerillo

In a recent paper Peccerillo (2004) quoted chemical, including isotopic, mineralogical and field data which he claimed "..cast serious doubt on the hypothesis that the carbonate-rich pyroclastics from central Italy represent carbonatitic magmas.". He concluded that the carbonate is derived from sedimentary limestone. He also noted that he had enunciated these ideas earlier (Peccerillo, 1998) but that he had not been answered and further that "the Editor of this journal [Periodico di Mineralogia] has repeatedly asked me to set down my case again and I have, reluctantly, agreed to do so.". We, some of the principal advocates of the carbonatitic interpretation for the igneous carbonate-rich rocks of central Italy, have, therefore, taken this opportunity to answer, in detail, the various arguments advanced by Peccerillo. We remain firmly convinced that the evidence demonstrates that the carbonate-rich rocks at the five localities of San Venanzo, Cupaello, Polino, Oricola and Vulture are carbonatitic, the carbonate deriving from deep within the mantle, and that sedimentary limestones played no immediate part in their genesis.