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Campi Flegrei

Caldera · Italy · 458m

A Landsat satellite image shows the Campi Flegrei caldera north of the Bay of Naples. The 13-km-wide caldera, immediately west of the city of Naples (upper right), was created following massive explosive eruptions about 34,000 and 12,000 years ago. Subsequent eruptions formed numerous craters and cones within the caldera and along its margins. The most recent eruption created the Monte Nuovo tuff cone in 1538.
A Landsat satellite image shows the Campi Flegrei caldera north of the Bay of Naples. The 13-km-wide caldera, immediately west of the city of Naples (upper right), was created following massive explosive eruptions about 34,000 and 12,000 years ago. Subsequent eruptions formed numerous craters and cones within the caldera and along its margins. The most recent eruption created the Monte Nuovo tuff cone in 1538. · Photo: NASA Landsat image, 1984. · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Caldera
Country
Italy
Region
European Volcanic Regions / Italian Peninsula Volcanic Provinces
Elevation
458m
Coordinates
40.827, 14.139
Last eruption
1538
Tectonic setting
Subduction zone / Continental crust (> 25 km)
Landform
Caldera
Major rock type
Trachyte / Trachydacite
Geological summary

Campi Flegrei is a 13-km-wide caldera that encompasses part of Naples and extends to the south beneath the Gulf of Pozzuoli. Episodes of significant uplift and subsidence within the dominantly trachytic caldera have occurred since Roman times. The earliest known eruptive products are dated 47,000 years BP. The caldera formed following two large explosive eruptions, the massive Campanian ignimbrite about 36,000 BP, and the over 40 km3 Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (NYT) about 15,000 BP. Following eruption of the NYT a large number of eruptions originated from widely scattered subaerial and submarine vents. Most activity occurred during three intervals: 15,000-9,500, 8,600-8,200, and 4,800-3,800 BP. The latest eruption were in 1158 CE at Solfatara and activity in 1538 CE that formed the Monte Nuovo cinder cone.

From Wikipedia

Monte Nuovo is a cinder cone volcano within the Campi Flegrei caldera, near Naples, southern Italy. A series of damaging earthquakes and changes in land elevation preceded its only eruption, during the most recent part of the Holocene, which lasted from September 29 to October 6, 1538, when it was formed. The event is important in the history of science because it was the first eruption in modern times to be described by a large number of witnesses. The eruptive vent formed next to the medieval village of Tripergole on the shores of the then-much larger Lake Lucrino. The thermal bath village, which had been inhabited since ancient Roman times and was home to notable Roman-era buildings including Cicero's villa, was completely buried by ejecta from the new tuff cone. Tripergole's ruins and its important thermal springs completely disappeared under Monte Nuovo such that the exact location of the village can no longer be identified.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA · Read full article →

Eruption history

Summary (VEI over time)
Click a bar to see individual eruptions
8480 BCE~8146 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI 48146 BCE~7812 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI 37812 BCE~7478 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?6810 BCE~6476 BCE · 2 eruptions · max VEI 46476 BCE~6142 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?3137 BCE~2803 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?2803 BCE~2469 BCE · 2 eruptions · max VEI 42469 BCE~2135 BCE · 4 eruptions · max VEI 52135 BCE~1801 BCE · 4 eruptions · max VEI 41801 BCE~1467 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI 4870~1204 · 1 eruptions · max VEI 11204~1538 · 1 eruptions · max VEI 38480 BCE6142 BCE3471 BCE1133 BCE1204

Detailed timeline

  1. 1538VEI 3Observed
    1538-09-29 – 1538-10-06
    Monte Nuovo
  2. 1198VEI 1Observed
    1198 – Ongoing
    Solfatara
  3. 1650 BCEVEI 4Geological estimate
    BCE 1650 – Ongoing
    Fossa Lupara (Monte Senga)
  4. 1870 BCE (±50 yrs)VEI 4Geological estimate
    BCE 1870 – Ongoing
    Astroni
  5. 2000 BCE (±150 yrs)VEI 4Geological estimate
    BCE 2000 – Ongoing
    Averno
  6. 2040 BCEVEI 3Geological estimate
    BCE 2040 – Ongoing
    Solfatara
  7. 2080 BCE (±75 yrs)VEI 2Geological estimate
    BCE 2080 – Ongoing
    Monte Olibano-Accademia
  8. 2150 BCE (±500 yrs)VEI 5Geological estimate
    BCE 2150 – Ongoing
    Agnano Monte Spina
  9. 2220 BCE (±50 yrs)VEI ?Geological estimate
    BCE 2220 – Ongoing
    Eastern NYT caldera
  10. 2330 BCE (±150 yrs)VEI 3Geological estimate
    BCE 2330 – Ongoing
  11. 2440 BCEVEI ?Geological estimate
    BCE 2440 – Ongoing
    Agnano-Monte Sant'Angelo
  12. 2500 BCEVEI 4Geological estimate
    BCE 2500 – Ongoing
    Cigliano
  13. 2580 BCE (±50 yrs)VEI ?Geological estimate
    BCE 2580 – Ongoing
  14. 2890 BCE (±50 yrs)VEI ?Geological estimate
    BCE 2890 – Ongoing
    East part of NYT caldera
  15. 6300 BCE (±50 yrs)VEI ?Geological estimate
    BCE 6300 – Ongoing
    N part of NYT caldera (San Martino)
  16. 6490 BCEVEI 3Geological estimate
    BCE 6490 – Ongoing
    Eastern part of NYT caldera
  17. 6650 BCE (±100 yrs)VEI 4Geological estimate
    BCE 6650 – Ongoing
    Fondi di Baia, Sartania
  18. 7590 BCE (±50 yrs)VEI ?Geological estimate
    BCE 7590 – Ongoing
    NE part of NYT caldera
  19. 7980 BCE (±500 yrs)VEI 3Geological estimate
    BCE 7980 – Ongoing
    Soccavo, Minapoli, Pisani & other vents
  20. 8480 BCE (±100 yrs)VEI 4Geological estimate
    BCE 8480 – Ongoing

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.