The 2nd to 4th century explosive activity of Vesuvius: new data on the timing of the upward migration of the post-A.D. 79 magma chamber

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(SMM), the eruption cycle occurred at Vesuvius (Italy) in the period
between the A.D. 79 plinian and the A.D. 472 subplinan eruptions. Historical
accounts report only sporadic, poorly reliable descriptions of the
volcanic activity in this period, during which a stratified sequence of ash
and lapilli beds, up to 150 cm thick, with a total volume estimated around
0.15 km3, was widely dispersed on the outer slopes of the volcano. Stratigraphic
studies and component analyses suggest that activity was characterized
by mixed hydromagmatic and magmatic processes. The
eruption style has been interpreted as repeated alternations of continuous
and prolonged ash emission activity intercalated with short-lived, violent
strombolian phases. Analyses of the bulk rock composition reveal that
during the entire eruption cycle, magma maintained an homogeneous
phonotephritic composition. In addition, the general trends of major and
trace elements depicted by the products of the A.D. 79 and A.D. 472 eruptions
converge to the SMM composition, suggesting a common mafic endmember
for these eruptions. The volatile content measured in
pyroxene-hosted melt inclusions indicates two main values of crystallization
pressures, around 220 and 70 MPa, roughly corresponding to the
previously estimated depth of the magma reservoirs of the A.D. 79 and
A.D. 472 eruptions, respectively. The study of SMM eruption cycle may
thus contribute to understand the processes governing the volcano reawakening
immediately after a plinian event, and the timing and modalities
which govern the migration of the magma reservoir.

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