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Unveiling the Maddaloni/X-6 eruption as one of the major events in Campi Flegrei volcanic history

Giada Fernandez 1,  Antonio Costa2, Biagio Giaccio1, Jacopo Natale3, Danilo M. Palladino4, Gianluca Sottili4

  • Affiliations:  1Istituto di Geologia Ambientale e Geoingegneria, CNR, Rome, Italy; 2Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Sezione di Bologna, Bologna, Italy; 3Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e Geoambientali, Università degli Studi di Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy; 4Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, "Sapienza" University of Rome, Rome, Italy 

  • Presentation type: Poster

  • Presentation time: Friday 16:30 - 18:00, Room Poster Hall

  • Poster Board Number: 203

  • Programme No: 3.10.8

  • Theme 3 > Session 10

Abstract

A detailed reconstruction of the physical parameters (i.e., intensity and magnitude) and tempo of past explosive volcanism is pivotal for hazard assessment and risk mitigation. With this regard, the study of tephra layers recorded in proximal and distal successions provides a powerful tool for reconstructing the eruptive history of volcanoes. The Campi Flegrei caldera, Italy, is among the most productive volcanoes of the central Mediterranean area. However, the volcanic history preceding the M7.7-7.8 (VEI 7) Campanian Ignimbrite eruption (~40 ka) is still poorly constrained. Recently, one of the most widespread Late Pleistocene Mediterranean marker tephra (i.e., the marine X-6 layer), has been correlated to the Maddaloni fallout eruptive unit (~109 ka), previously described in proximal settings and ascribed to Campi Flegrei. Using a semi-analytical tephra dispersal model, we reconstructed the main eruption source parameters of this explosive event, thus characterising the ash dispersal as far as distal areas (~900 km). Our results suggest that the Maddaloni eruption was characterized by an early Plinian phase involving ~3-21 km3 DRE of magma, followed by a co-ignimbrite phase, as large as 60-300 km3 DRE, associated with large pyroclastic currents (up to ~70 km3 DRE, likely related to a caldera collapse phase). This outcome ranks the Maddaloni/X-6 as a new high-magnitude (M7.6) eruption in the volcanic history of Campi Flegrei. This study provides new insights on the capability of the Campi Flegrei magmatic system to repeatedly generate very large explosive eruptions, which has huge implications for volcanic hazard assessment in the central Mediterranean region.