Deep Drilling Reveals Puzzling History of Campi Flegrei Caldera

Appraisal of morphodepositional markers tied to ancient sea-levels in high-resolution seismic profiles together with geo-archaeological markers along the coast of the Pozzuoli Bay provided insights into the vertical deformation of the submerged part of the Campi Flegrei caldera (Southern Italy).The collapse of the central part of the Campi Flegrei caldera is associated with the eruption of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) at ~15 ka. The NYT caldera collapse was followed by central dome resurgence associated with alternations of fast uplift and subsidence displacements that accompanied with discrete phases of intra-caldera volcanic activity. Previously, the evolution of ground movement in the Campi Flegrei caldera has been reconstructed using marine deposits uplifted onland or archaeological evidence and historical accounts and thus offers a mainly 2D appraisal of the deformation pattern. However, a complete reconstruction of post-collapse deformation suffers of the limitation that nearly two-thirds of the caldera are submerged beneath the Pozzuoli Bay.We contribute to fill this gap by providing a reconstruction of offshore and coastal deformation through estimation of the vertical displacement of morphodepositional markers in high-resolution seismic reflection profiles and geoarchaeological markers directly surveyed at shallow depths. Our interpretation reveals the occurrence of different sediment stacking pattern whose provides evidence of rapid and oscillating ground movements. Whereas the offshore morphodepositional markers provide displacement information for the last ~12 ka, for the last ~2 ka our interpretation is supported by ancient Roman sea-level indicators. The multi-dataset analysis has allowed disentangling the signal related to the post-caldera dynamics from a broader deformation signal that affects this part of the extensional margin of the Apennines.The integration of offshore data in the study of past episodes of ground deformation, by yielding a more complete picture of the ground motions associated to the post-collapse evolution of the Campi Flegrei caldera, bears a significant contribution for a 3D reconstruction of this high-risk resurgence caldera. Besides, the multidisciplinary approach presented here can be relevant for investigations of other calderas spanning the sea-land transition.

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History of earthquakes and vertical ground movement in Campi Flegrei caldera, Southern Italy: comparison of precursory events to the A.D. 1538 eruption of Monte Nuovo and of activity since 1968

Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research ◽

10.1016/0377-0273(91)90034-w ◽

1991 ◽

Vol 48 (1-2) ◽

pp. 77-92 ◽

Cited By ~ 58

Author(s):

John J. Dvorak ◽

Paolo Gasparini

Keyword(s):

Southern Italy ◽

Ground Movement ◽

Campi Flegrei ◽

Campi Flegrei Caldera ◽

History Of ◽

Vertical Ground ◽

Monte Nuovo

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The Ground Deformation History of the Neapolitan Volcanic Area (Campi Flegrei Caldera, Somma–Vesuvius Volcano, and Ischia Island) from 20 Years of Continuous GPS Observations (2000–2019)

Remote Sensing ◽

10.3390/rs13142725 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (14) ◽

pp. 2725

Author(s):

Prospero De Martino ◽

Mario Dolce ◽

Giuseppe Brandi ◽

Giovanni Scarpato ◽

Umberto Tammaro

Keyword(s):

Time Series ◽

Ground Deformation ◽

Campi Flegrei ◽

Volcanic Area ◽

Campi Flegrei Caldera ◽

Ischia Island ◽

History Of ◽

Continuous Gps ◽

Gps Time Series ◽

Gps Observations

The Neapolitan volcanic area includes three active and high-risk volcanoes: Campi Flegrei caldera, Somma–Vesuvius, and Ischia island. The Campi Flegrei volcanic area is a typical example of a resurgent caldera, characterized by intense uplift periods followed by subsidence phases (bradyseism). After about 21 years of subsidence following the 1982–1984 unrest, a new inflation period started in 2005 and, with increasing rates over time, is ongoing. The overall uplift from 2005 to December 2019 is about 65 cm. This paper provides the history of the recent Campi Flegrei caldera unrest and an overview of the ground deformation patterns of the Somma–Vesuvius and Ischia volcanoes from continuous GPS observations. In the 2000–2019 time span, the GPS time series allowed the continuous and accurate tracking of ground and seafloor deformation of the whole volcanic area. With the aim of improving the research on volcano dynamics and hazard assessment, the full dataset of the GPS time series from the Neapolitan volcanic area from January 2000 to December 2019 is presented and made available to the scientific community.

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The Astroni volcano: the only example of closely spaced eruptions in the same vent area during the recent history of the Campi Flegrei caldera (Italy)

Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research ◽

10.1016/s0377-0273(03)00397-4 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 133 (1-4) ◽

pp. 171-192 ◽

Cited By ~ 67

Author(s):

Roberto Isaia ◽

Massimo D’Antonio ◽

Francesco Dell’Erba ◽

Mauro Di Vito ◽

Giovanni Orsi

Keyword(s):

Recent History ◽

Campi Flegrei ◽

Campi Flegrei Caldera ◽

History Of

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Volcanism and tectonics in an island-arc rift environment: proposal to drill at Christiana-Santorini-Kolumbo marine volcanic field, Greece

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-3132 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Tim Druitt ◽

Christian Huebscher ◽

Steffen Kutterolf ◽

Paraskevi Nomikou ◽

Dimitris Papanikolaou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Eastern Mediterranean ◽

Eastern Mediterranean Region ◽

Active Regions ◽

Volcanic Field ◽

Caldera Collapse ◽

Rift System ◽

Seismic Profiles ◽

Deep Drilling ◽

History Of ◽

Sea Floor Mapping

IODP proposal VolTecArc aims at deep-sea drilling in and around the Christiana-Santorini-Kolumbo (CSK) marine volcanic field to investigate interactions and feedbacks between tectonics and volcanism and how volcanoes interact with their marine environments. The volcanic field lies in a rift system 100 km long and 45 km wide, oblique to the South Aegean volcanic arc, that is one of the most volcanically and seismically active regions of Europe. The volcanoes include three polygenetic and over 20 monogenetic centers that have jointly produced over a hundred explosive eruptions over the last few hundred thousand years.&#160; The volcanoes pose important hazards to the Eastern Mediterranean region. Unrest at Santorini caldera in 2011-12 raised awareness of eruption threat at an island archipelago visited by 1.5 million tourists per year.The results of onland volcanological research, eruption dating, multi-beam sea floor mapping, shallow sediment coring and dredge sampling, combined with a high-quality site-survey database of multichannel seismic profiles and a recent seismic tomography experiment, make deep drilling at the CSK volcanic field very timely. Deep drilling will enable characterization and interpretation of depositional packages visible on seismic images, chemical correlation of Santorini-derived volcanic layers in the rift fills with the dated onshore stratigraphy, and provide a tight chronostratigraphic framework for marine successions. Some objectives of drilling are to: (1) document the history of tectonics, subsidence, sedimentation and volcanism in an arc-rift environment, and how volcanism has evolved spatially and temporally since rift initiation; (2) determine how the genesis and compositions of magmas and their associated volatiles have evolved in time and space over the lifetime of the rift; (3) document the dynamics and environmental impacts of arc eruptions and calderas, including eruption frequencies, magnitudes and rates, the mechanisms of caldera collapse, and the origin of caldera unrest events.

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