Carbon dioxide diffuse emission from the soil: ten years of observations at Vesuvio and Campi Flegrei (Pozzuoli), and linkages with volcanic activity

Carbon dioxide flux from the soil is regularly
monitored in selected areas of Vesuvio and Solfatara
(Campi Flegrei, Pozzuoli) with the twofold aim of i)
monitoring spatial and temporal variations of the degassing
process and ii) investigating if the surface phenomena could
provide information about the processes occurring at depth.
At present, the surveyed areas include 15 fixed points
around the rim of Vesuvio and 71 fixed points in the floor
of Solfatara crater. Soil CO2 flux has been measured since
1998, at least once a month, in both areas. In addition, two
automatic permanent stations, located at Vesuvio and
Solfatara, measure the CO2 flux and some environmental
parameters that can potentially influence the CO2 diffuse
degassing. Series acquired by continuous stations are
characterized by an annual periodicity that is related to
the typical periodicities of some meteorological parameters.
Conversely, series of CO2 flux data arising from periodic
measurements over the arrays of Vesuvio and Solfatara are
less dependent on external factors such as meteorological
parameters, local soil properties (porosity, hydraulic conductivity)
and topographic effects (high or low ground).
Therefore we argue that the long-term trend of this signal
contains the “best” possible representation of the endogenous
signal related to the upflow of deep hydrothermal
fluids.

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