Linking the Mediterranean MIS 5 tephra markers to Campi Flegrei (southern Italy) 109–92 ka explosive activity and refining the chronology of MIS 5c-d millennial-scale climate variability

Abstract

Explosive activity preceding the ~40 ka Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) eruption in the Neapolitan volcanic area, Southern Italy, has long been speculated based on the occurrences of widespread tephra layers, with a Campanian geochemical signature, such as the C-22, X-5, and X-6, preserved in Mediterranean Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 5 sedimentary records. However, previous studies of pre-CI pyroclastic units occurring in close proximity of the Neapolitan volcanoes, including Campi Flegrei, Somma-Vesuvius, Ischia and Procida islands, did not allow a conclusive identification of the near-source equivalents of these tephra markers. Here we present a comprehensive characterization of four pyroclastic units from the Campanian Plain, comprising major and trace element glass compositions, Sr–Nd isotopes and 40Ar/39Ar dating. Our data allowed the identification of the medial equivalents of the MIS 5 tephra markers, including the widespread C-22, X-5, and X-6 tephra, and their assignment to previously undocumented Campi Flegrei activity between 109 and 92 ka. In addition to substantially extending Campi Flegrei explosive activity deeper in time, and thus providing the basis for a revaluation of its history, our findings provide new precise radioisotopic dating to better constrain the chronology of the millennial scale climatic oscillations of the MIS 5c-d in the Mediterranean area and possibly on a larger scale.