Once upon a time there was the ocean ... the magical and archaic atmosphere of an unforgettable and forgotten landscape. Timpa di Pietrasasso and Timpa delle Murge are two splendid examples of ophiolitic outcrops, that is pieces of oceanic crust brought to the top of the mountains by the tectonic events that caused the formation of the Apennine range and which date back to about 130 million years ago.

GEOLOGY
The area of ​​the Pollino Massif, which includes Timpa delle Murge, Timpa di Pietrasasso and Monte Tumbarino, represents a geological uniqueness in the central-southern Apennines. The particular dark rocks, which also differ morphologically from the surrounding ones (they stand out in the landscape thanks to their lesser erodibility), are called, from the classical geological literature, Ophiolites (from the Greek òphis = snake + Lìthos = stone, due to the typical color glossy dark green). The term then became broader, actually including all the rocks dating back to the same genetic environment, that of the ocean floor, which, as can be observed in this area, have different and lively colors, tending to rusty red. Currently the same materials are found below the great oceans and, closer to us, in the Tyrrhenian Sea (near the volcanic arc of the Aeolian islands), where oceanic crust is forming, generally thinner and of different composition (more basic ) than that found beneath the continents. The most fascinating, in this sequence of rocks, are certainly the Pillow Lavas, a term that in English means pillow lavas, whose rounded shape is a testimony of the rapid cooling that occurred when they came out from cracks on the ocean floor. The rapid solidification of the molten magma has produced on the surface of the pillows areas with a vitreous structure, amorphous (disordered, not crystalline) and typically "radiated" inwards, characteristics that are perhaps more difficult to observe with the naked eye. At this point, therefore, the interpretation that has been given for the genesis of the rocks that emerge in this area appears clear: the edges of the original Jurassic Tethys, i.e. an ocean that opened about 180 million years ago where it now exists. the Mediterranean. These fragments were then raised and transported by the same tectonic movements that led to the formation of the Apennines.

TECHNICAL INFO:
Place of departure and arrival: Rifugio Acquafredda, 1074 meters (San Costantino Albanese)
Uphill difference in height: about 367 m
Altitude difference downhill: about 367 m
Total time: 5 h
Path length: about 9 km (round trip)
Difficulty: medium