Project Details
Projekt
Shallow structures of the marine Campi Flegrei Caldera and the volcanoclastic and sedimentary deposits in the Bay of Naples
Applicant
Professor Dr. Volkhard Spieß
Subject Area
Palaeontology
Geophysics
Geophysics
Term
from 2012 to 2017
Project identifier
Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 216244414
The Campi Flegrei Volcanic District belongs to the world's most active volcanic systems. The most pronounced volcanic feature in that area is the half-submerged, quasi-circular Campi Flegrei caldera, which formed in the course of a major volcanic eruption (the so-called Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) eruption) and subsequent collapse that occurred 15000 years B.P. As consequence of the eruption, thick ignimbrites were emplaced, covering an area >1000 km². The last volcanic eruption occurred in 1538 AD at the Monte Nuovo after 3500 years of quiescence. In the last decades, the Campi Flegrei caldera has been characterized by short-term episodes of unrest involving considerable ground deformation (uplift and subsidence of several meters), seismicity and increased temperature at fumaroles. Furthermore, long-term deformation (<8 ka) can be observed in the central part of the caldera with uplift rates of several tens of meters within a few thousand years. Both long-term and short term uplift could be interpreted as eruption precursor, thereby posing high-concern for a future eruption, which would expose more than 1.5 million people living in the surroundings of the volcanic district to extreme volcanic risks.In order to improve the understanding of such unrest mechanisms and to correctly assess eruption hazards, the Campi Flegrei Volcanic District became subject to a joint amphibic approach for scientific drilling in the ICDP and IODP programmes. During a partially DFG funded, German-Italian research cruise in 2008, high-resolution multi-channel seismic data were acquired in order to support the onshore and offshore drilling programmes. The seismic data provide an insight into the evolution of the Campi Flegrei caldera since the NYT eruption and have been interpreted within the framework of an ongoing project in the DFG¿s ICDP Priority Programme. Despite outstanding data quality of the uppermost 300 m below the seafloor, the signal penetration is not sufficient to achieve the required depths (>1000 m) of the ICDP/IODP drilling campaigns.In the context of the present proposal another seismic survey is planned for 2015, during which a low-frequency seismic system shall be deployed in order to achieve signal penetration down to the target depth of the proposed ICDP/IODP drill sites. This to-be acquired seismic dataset may serve as a basis for the correlation of the recently completed onland ICDP drilling and proposed IODP drill sites in the Gulf of Pozzuoli and Naples Bay in order to develop a large scale picture of the study area. Eventually, the data shall be used to prepare an updated marine drilling campaign. Furthermore, the to-be acquired deep-penetrating seismic data would form an optimal complement to the already existing high-resolution seismic data. A joint interpretation of both datasets would provide not yet existing insights into the development of the Campi Flegrei caldera, including the time span before the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff eruption.
DFG Programme
Infrastructure Priority Programmes
International Connection
Italy
Cooperation Partner
Dr. Marco Sacchi
