Ricerc@Sapienza

Campi Flegrei, located in the metropolitan area of Naples, is an archetypal example of a volcanic system capable of producing catastrophic events. Indeed, there is increasing recognition among scientists focusing on Campi Flegrei that the system is reawakening, as evidenced by several types of observations since the 1970s.
The novelty of this proposal lies on the refinement of the close relationship between magma degassing and the magmatic gas reservoir feeding the hydrothermal system at Campi Flegrei. The magmatic fluids are released into the hydrothermal system during episodes of intense degassing, causing its pressurization. The slope of a P-T-H2O array during magma ascent, as determined from crystal-melt cation exchanges, can be directly related to magma cooling rate, which is in turn a function of magma ascent via the effect of pressure on volatile exsolution and degassing. Thus, magma ascent velocities at Campi Flegrei, can be determined from decompression and cooling rate experiments, elucidating the relationships between the initial ascent velocity of magmas and the depths of magma dehydration. The dynamics of gas liberation during the activity of the hydrothermal system will be also investigated and modeled experimentally. The experiments will use custom-designed shock-tube and water tank setups to reproduce scaled-down pressurized gas liberation in two phase flow systems. High-speed imaging and acoustic sensors will be used to parameterize the key dynamics of the gas liberation process. These data will provide a crucial link between the nature and type of the activity that currently occurs, or is expected to occur, at the surface and the dynamics of motion and pressurization of the gas at depth. The output of the experiments will also provide an interpretative key for monitoring the signals from current and future activity.