Italy: Deep Drilling Reveals Caldera Collapse Was Smaller Than What Scientists Expected

Deep Drilling Reveals Puzzling History of Campi Flegrei Caldera (EOS)

The base of the drilling rig operating at the former steel factory in Bagnoli, Naples, used for the Campi Flegrei Deep Drilling Project. In the foreground are the drill pipes after use. Credit: Claudio Serio

To get an accurate understanding of the caldera, De Natale et al. turned to scientific drilling. The Campi Flegrei Deep Drilling Project (CFDDP) drilled to a depth of 501 meters in western Naples, the morphological limit of Campi Flegrei caldera.

Drilling gives scientists a precise view into the deep structures of the caldera, its geothermal characteristics, and its magma chemistry. All these can reveal clues to how the caldera formed. The researchers took samples from different depths of the drill site and measured argon isotopes periodically so that they could estimate the age of various layers.

Citation: Branscombe, A. (2017), Deep drilling reveals puzzling history of Campi Flegrei caldera, Eos, 98, https://doi.org/10.1029/2017EO067075. Published on 01 February 2017.

(Thanks to GRC Member Marcelo Lippmann, Staff Scientist (retired) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory for the submission.)

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