Thermal and geochemical constraints on the ‘deep’ magmatic structure of Mt. Vesuvius

Abstract

A review of available and new isotopic data on rocks from Mt. Vesuvius together with geophysical and mineralogical data allow us to define a ‘deep’ complex magmatic reservoir where mantle-derived magmas arrive, stagnate and differentiate, and to constrain a thermal model, which describes the history and present state of the reservoir and its surrounding rocks. The top of the reservoir is located at about 8 km depth, and it extends discontinuously down to 20 km depth. The reservoir is hosted in densely fractured continental crustal rocks, where magmas and crust can interact, and, according to thermal modeling results, has been fed more than once in the last 400 ka. The hypothesis of crustal contamination is favored by the high temperatures reached by crustal rocks as a consequence of repetitive intrusions of magma. From the ‘deep’ reservoir magmas rise to form ‘shallow’ magma chambers at different depths, as already known in the literature, where they can undergo low-pressure differentiation and mixing and feed the volcanic activity.