Basalt breccia, green groundmass is composed of epidote.

Upper Triassic breccia from York County, Pennsylvania.

Megabreccia (left) at Titus Canyon Narrows

Tertiary breccia at Resting Springs Pass, Mojave Desert, California.

Breccia ( /ˈbrɛtʃiə/ or /ˈbrɛʃiə/; Italian: breach) is a rock composed of broken fragments of minerals or rock cemented together by a fine-grained matrix,^[1] that can be either similar to or different from the composition of the fragments.

The word is a loan from Italian, and in that language indicates either loose gravel or stone made by cemented gravel. A breccia may have a variety of different origins, as indicated by the named types including sedimentary breccia, tectonic breccia, igneous breccia, impact breccia and hydrothermal breccia.

Types[link]

Sedimentary[link]

Sedimentary breccias are a type of clastic sedimentary rock which are composed of angular to subangular, randomly oriented clasts of other sedimentary rocks. They are formed by either submarine debris flows, avalanches, mud flow or mass flow in an aqueous medium. Technically, turbidites are a form of debris flow deposit and are a fine-grained peripheral deposit to a sedimentary breccia flow.

The other derivation of sedimentary breccia is as angular, poorly sorted, immature fragments of rocks in a finer grained groundmass which are produced by mass wasting. These are, in essence, lithified colluvium. Thick sequences of sedimentary (colluvial) breccias are generally formed next to fault scarps in grabens.

In the field, it may at times be difficult to distinguish between a debris flow sedimentary breccia and a colluvial breccia, especially if one is working entirely from drilling information. Sedimentary breccias are an integral host rock for many SEDEX ore deposits.

Sedimentary breccias can be described as rudaceous.

A conglomerate, by contrast, is a sedimentary rock composed of rounded fragments or clasts of pre-existing rocks. Both breccias and conglomerates are composed of fragments averaging greater than 2 millimetres (0.079 in) in size. The angular shape of the fragments indicates that the material has not been transported far from its source. Breccias indicate accumulation in a juvenile stream channel or accumulations because of gravity erosion. Talus slopes might become buried and the talus cemented in a similar manner.

Collapse[link]

A collapse breccia forms where there has been a collapse of rock, typically in a karst landscape. Collapse breccias form blankets in highly weathered regolith due to the removal of rock components by dissolution.

Tectonic[link]

Tectonic breccias form where two tectonic plates create a crumbling of the interface, by their relative movements.

Fault[link]

Fault breccias result from the grinding action of two fault blocks, as they slide past each other. Subsequent cementation of these broken fragments may occur by means of mineral matter introduced by groundwater.

Igneous[link]

Igneous clastic (detrital) rocks can be divided into two classes:

• Broken, fragmental rocks associated with volcanic eruptions, both of lava and pyroclastic type;
• Broken, fragmental rocks produced by intrusive processes, usually associated with plutons or porphyry stocks.

Volcanic[link]

Volcanic pyroclastic rocks are formed by explosive eruption of lava and any rocks which are entrained within the eruptive column. This may include rocks plucked off the wall of the magma conduit, or physically picked up by the ensuing pyroclastic surge. Lavas, especially rhyolite and dacite flows, tend to form clastic volcanic rocks by a process known as autobrecciation. This occurs when the thick, nearly solid lava breaks up into blocks and these blocks are then reincorporated into the lava flow again and mixed in with the remaining liquid magma. The resulting breccia is uniform in rock type and chemical composition.

Lavas may also pick up rock fragments, especially if flowing over unconsolidated rubble on the flanks of a volcano, and these form volcanic breccias, also called pillow breccias.

The volcanic breccia environment is transitional into the plutonic breccia environment in the volcanic conduits of explosive volcanoes, where lava tends to solidify and may be repeatedly shattered by ensuing eruptions. This is typical of volcanic caldera settings.

Intrusive[link]

Clastic rocks are also commonly found in shallow subvolcanic intrusions such as porphyry stocks, granites and kimberlite pipes, where they are transitional with volcanic breccias.^[2]

Intrusive rocks can become brecciated in appearance by multiple stages of intrusion, especially if fresh magma is intruded into partly consolidated or solidified magma. This may be seen in many granite intrusions where later aplite veins form a late-stage stockwork through earlier phases of the granite mass. When particularly intense, the rock may appear as a chaotic breccia.

Clastic rocks in mafic and ultramafic intrusions have been found and form via several processes:

• consumption and melt-mingling with wall rocks, where the felsic wall rocks are softened and gradually invaded by the hotter ultramafic intrusion (termed taxitic texture by Russian geologists)
• Accumulation of rocks which fall through the magma chamber from the roof, forming chaotic remnants
• Autobrecciation of partly consolidated cumulate by fresh magma injections or by violent disturbances within the magma chamber (e.g. postulated earthquakes)
• Accumulation of xenoliths within a feeder conduit or vent conduit.

Impact[link]

Alamo bolide impact breccia (Late Devonian, Frasnian) near Hancock Summit, Pahranagat Range, Nevada.

Impact breccias are thought to be diagnostic of an impact event such as an asteroid or comet striking the Earth, and are usually found at impact craters. Impact breccia, a type of impactite, forms during the process of impact cratering when large meteorites or comets impact with the Earth or other rocky planets or asteroids. Breccia of this type may be present on or beneath the floor of the crater, in the rim, or in the ejecta expelled beyond the crater. Impact breccia may be identified by its occurrence in or around a known impact crater, and/or an association with other products of impact cratering such as shatter cones, impact glass, shocked minerals, and chemical and isotopic evidence of contamination with extraterrestrial material (e.g. iridium and osmium anomalies).

Hydrothermal[link]

Hydrothermal breccia, Cloghleagh Iron Mine, near Blessington in Ireland, composed mainly of quartz and manganese oxides, the result of seismic activity about 12 million years ago.

Hydrothermal breccias usually form at shallow crustal levels (<1 km) between 150 to 350^oC, when seismic activity (an earthquake) causes a void to open along a fault deep underground. The void draws in hot water and as pressure in the cavity drops, the water violently boils – akin to an underground geyser. In addition, the sudden opening of a cavity causes rock at sides of the fault to destabilise and implode inwards, the broken rock gets caught up in a churning mixture of rock, steam and boiling water. Rock fragments hit each other and sides of the fault, and attrition quickly rounds angular breccia fragments. Volatile gases are lost to the steam phase as boiling continues, in particular CO₂. As a result, the chemistry of the fluids change and ore minerals rapidly precipitate.

Breccia-hosted ore deposits are ubiquitous.^[3]

Silicified and mineralized breccia. Light gray is mostly dolomite with a little translucent quartz. Dark gray is jasperoid and ore minerals. Veinlet along lower edge of specimen contains sphalerite in carbonates. Pend Oreille mine, Pend Oreille County, Washington.

The morphology of breccias associated with ore deposits varies from tabular sheeted veins and clastic dikes associated with overpressured sedimentary strata, to large-scale intrusive diatreme breccias (breccia pipes), or even some synsedimentary diatremes formed solely by the overpressure of pore fluid within sedimentary basins. Hydrothermal breccias are usually formed by hydrofracturing of rocks by highly pressured hydrothermal fluids. They are typical of the epithermal ore environment and are intimately associated with intrusive-related ore deposits such as skarns, greisens and porphyry-related mineralisation. Epithermal deposits are mined for copper, silver and gold.

In the mesothermal regime, at much greater depths, fluids under lithostatic pressure can be released during seismic activity associated with mountain building. The pressurised fluids ascend towards shallower crustal levels that are under lower hydrostatic pressure. On their journey, high-pressure fluids crack rock by hydrofracturing, forming an angular jigsaw breccia. Rounding of rock fragments less common in the mesothermal regime, as the formational event is brief. If boiling occurs, methane and hydrogen sulfide may be lost to the steam phase and ore may precipitate. Mesothermal deposits are often mined for gold.

Ornamental uses[link]

Natural patterns on the polished surface of selected pieces of breccia or "landscape marble" can resemble a city skyline or even trees, and were used as inlays for furniture etc., especially in Italy.

The striking visual appearance of breccias has for millennia made them a popular sculptural and architectural material. Breccia was employed for column bases in the Minoan palace of Knossos on Crete in about 1800 BC.^[4] Breccia was used on a limited scale by the ancient Egyptians — one of the best-known examples is the statue of the goddess Tawaret in the British Museum. It was regarded by the Romans as an especially precious stone and was often used in high-profile public buildings. Many types of marble are brecciated, such as Breccia Oniciata or Breche Nouvelle.

Breccia statue of the Ancient Egyptian goddess Tawaret.

It is most often used as an ornamental or facing material in walls and columns. A particularly striking example can be seen in the Pantheon in Rome, which features two gigantic columns of pavonazzetto, a breccia coming from Phrygia (in modern Turkey). Pavonazzetto obtains its name from its extremely colourful appearance, which is reminiscent of a peacock's feathers (pavone is "peacock" in Italian).

See also[link]

• Fault breccia
• Impact crater
• Hydrothermal circulation
• Vein (geology)
• Diatreme
• Kimberlite
• Regolith

References[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Breccia

Further reading[link]

• Sibson, R.H. (1987). "Earthquake rupturing as a mineralizing agent in hydrothermal systems". Geology 15 (8): 701–704. DOI:10.1130/0091-7613(1987)15<701:ERAAMA>2.0.CO;2. ISSN 0091-7613. 

• Sibson, R.H. (2000). "Fluid involvement in normal faulting". Journal of Geodynamics 29 (3–5): 469–499. DOI:10.1016/S0264-3707(99)00042-3. 

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Amedeo Minghi
Background information
Origin	Italy
Genres	Pop, Italian popular music, Adult Contemporary
Years active	1966–present
Labels	Dischi Ricordi, Apollo, CBS, It, Italian RCA, Fonit Cetra, Italian EMI
Website	http://www.amedeominghi.com/
Notable instruments
Piano

Amedeo Minghi (born in Rome, Italy on 12 August 1947) is an Italian singer/songwriter. He has written songs for Andrea Bocelli, Mietta, Mia Martini, Anna Oxa, Marcella Bella, Gianni Morandi and Rossana Casale and composed several sound tracks as for the television film Fantaghirò (aka Cave of the Golden Rose).

• 2000: Anita
• 2002: L'altra faccia della luna
• 2003: L'altra faccia della luna (Edizione sanremese)
• 2005: Su di me
• 2005: Sotto L'Ombrellone (con Lino Banfi)
• 2006: The Platinum collection
• 2008: 40 anni di me con voi
• 2009: All'Auditorium. L'ascolteranno gli americani

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This article relies largely or entirely upon a single source. Please help improve this article by introducing citations to additional sources. Discussion about the problems with the sole source used may be found on the talk page. (February 2012)

Enrique Breccia (born 1945 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine comic book artist.

Biography[link]

Enrique Breccia, the son of one of the greatest Latino-American artists of all time, Alberto Breccia, drew his first work in 1968, when together with his father he illustrated La Vida del Che, a biography of the famous revolutionary Che Guevara written by Héctor Germán Oesterheld. In 1972 he started his collaboration with the British publishing house Fleetway, drawing the comic book Spy 13 under a pseudonym, and later a series of war stories for the Italian magazine Linus.

His collaboration with writer Carlos Trillo began in 1976 with the comic El Buen Dios, immediately followed by Alvar Mayor, his most famous character with whom he entered the world comic book scene. He had several other successful collaborations with Trillo, the mini series El peregrino de la Estrellas, the surreal series Los Viajes del Marco Mono and the painted El Reino del Azul. In 1983 he drew Ibáñez from the script of Robin Wood, and the next year the highly successful El Sueñero and El Cazador del Tiempo from his own scripts. He also drew several comic book adaptions of famous novels such as Till Eulenspiegel, Treasure Island and Moby Dick. In 1987 he published the graphic novel Lope de Aguirre and in 1995 De Mar a Mar.

In 2000 he began his collaboration with American comic book publishers, working on an issue of X-Force for Marvel , and Legion Worlds and Batman: Gotham Knights for DC Comics. In 2002 he drew the graphic novel Lovecraft, about the life of writer H.P. Lovecraft written by Hans Rodionoff, for DC comics' Vertigo imprint. In 2005 he became the head artist for the Vertigo series Swamp Thing, drawing 22 issues till 2007.

He currently lives in New York, and is working on the second volume of the comic book saga Sentinelles for the French market, written by Xavier Dorison.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Enrique Breccia biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia
• Official website

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Alberto Breccia
Born	(1919-04-15)April 15, 1919 Montevideo, Uruguay
Died	November 10, 1993(1993-11-10) (aged 74) Buenos Aires, Argentina
Nationality	Argentine
Area(s)	Writer, Artist
Pseudonym(s)	"El Viejo"
Notable works	Mort Cinder La vida del Che

Alberto Breccia (April 15, 1919 - November 10, 1993) was an Uruguay-born Argentine comics artist and writer.

Biography[link]

Born in Montevideo, Uruguay, Breccia moved with his parents to Buenos Aires, Argentina when he was three years old. After leaving school, Breccia worked in a tripe packing plant and in 1938 he got a job for the magazine El Resero, where he wrote articles and drew the covers.

He began to work professionally in 1939, when he joined the publishing house Manuel Láinez. He worked on magazines such as Tit-Bits, Rataplán and El Gorrión where he created comic strips such as Mariquita Terremoto, Kid Río Grande, El Vengador (based on a popular novel), and other adaptations.

During the 1950s he became an "honorary" member of the "Group of Venice" that consisted of expatriate Italian artists such as Hugo Pratt, Ido Pavone, Horacio Lalia, Faustinelli and Ongaro.^[1] Other honorary members were Francisco Solano López, Carlo Cruz and Arturo Perez del Castillo. With Hugo Pratt, he started the Pan-American School of Art in Buenos Aires. In 1957 he joined publisher Editorial Frontera, under the direction of Héctor Germán Oesterheld, where he created several Ernie Pike stories. In 1958 Breccia's series Sherlock Time ran in the comic magazine Hora Cero Extra, with scripts by Oesterheld.

In 1960 he began to work for European publishers via a Buenos Aries based art agency: for British publishing house Fleetway he drew a few westerns and war stories. This period did not last long. His son Enrique Breccia would also draw a few war stories for Fleetway in the late 1960s, such as Spy 13.

Breccia and Oesterheld collaborated to produce one of the most important comic strips in history, Mort Cinder, in 1962 .^[1] Interestingly, the face of the immortal Cinder is modeled after Breccia's assistant, Horacio Lalia, and the appearance of his companion, the antique dealer Ezra Winston, is actually Breccia's own. Cinder and Winston's strip began on July 26, 1962, in issue Nº 714 of Misterix magazine, and ran until 1964 .

In 1968 Breccia was joined by his son, Enrique, in a project to draw the comic biography of Che, the life of Che Guevara, again with a script provided by Oesterheld. This comic book is considered the chief cause behind Oesterheld's disappearance.^[1]

In 1969 Oesterheld rewrote the script of El Eternauta, for the Argentinian magazine Gente. Breccia drew the story with a decidedly experimental style, resorting to diverse techniques. The resulting work was anything but conventional and moving away from the commercial. Breccia refused to modify its style, which added to the tone of the script, and was much different from Francisco Solano López original.

During the seventies, Breccia makes major graphic innovations in black and white and color with series like Un tal Daneri and Chi ha paura delle fiabe?, written by Carlos Trillo. On the last one, a satire based on Brothers Grimm's tales, he plays with texture, mixing collage, acrylic and watercolor. This technique will be used later in the eighties by anglo-Saxons authors such as Bill Sienkiewicz and Dave McKean.

Other stories include: Cthulhu Mythos, Buscavidas (text by Carlos Trillo), a Historia grafica del Chile and Perramus, inspired by the work of the poet Juan Sasturain a pamphlet against the dictatorship in Argentina.

Alberto Breccia died in Buenos Aires in 1993.

Partial bibliography[link]

• Mariquita Terremoto.
• Kid Río Grande.
• El Vengador.
• Jean de Martinica.
• Vito Nervio (1947–1959 and 1974), with stories by Leonardo Wadel
• Mision Thyuraine (1961), with stories by Leonardo Wadel
• Pancho López (1956)
• Ernie Pike, written by Oesterheld
• Sherlock Time (1958–1959), written by Oesterheld
• Mort Cinder (1962–1964), written by Oesterheld
• Richard Long (1966), written by Oesterheld
• La vida del Che (1968), written by Oesterheld, additional art by Enrique Breccia
• El Eternauta (1969 edition), written by Oesterheld
• Evita, vida y obra de Eva Perón (1970), written by Oesterheld
• Squadra Zenith (1972–1974)
• Los mitos de Cthulhu (1973), written by Norberto Buscaglia, from text by H. P. Lovecraft
• Un tal Daneri (1974–1978), written by Trillo
• El corazón delator (1975), from a text by Edgar Allan Poe
• El Aire (1976), written by Guillermo Saccomanno
• Nadie (1977), written by Trillo.
• Buscavidas (1981), written by Trillo
• Perramus (1983), written by Juan Sasturain
• Drácula, Dacul, Vlad?, Bah... (1984)
• Informe sobre ciegos (1991), from text by Ernesto Sábato
• El Dorado, el delirio de Lope de Aguirre (1992), written by Carlos Albiac
• Martín Fierro, by José Hernández
• Platos voladores al ataque!!, written by Oesterheld

References[link]

El Aire (1976), written by Guillermo Saccomanno

External links[link]

• Alberto Breccia biography on Lambiek Comiclopedia
• Alberto Breccia biography on Dan Dare
• La Historieta Argentina Alberto Breccia work
• Alberto Breccia interview on Tebeosfera (Spanish)
• Alberto Breccia dossier FFF (Italian)