Application of electric and electromagnetic methods to the definition of the Campi Flegrei caldera (Italy)

Abstract

The results of an analysis of Dipolar Geoelectrical (DG), Magnetotelluric (MT) and Self-Potential (SP) data collected over the emerged portion of the Campi Flegrei (CF) caldera (South Italy) are presented. The DG and MT data are from previous surveys, while the SP data have been recently collected during a survey consisting of 265 pickup land sites. Although the emerged part of the CF caldera appears as a highly inhomogeneous structure, a few simple features have been highlighted through an integrated analysis of subsets of consistent data. A well resolved feature is the structural pattern of the caldera depression along a roughly E-W profile, deduced from a 2D combined interpretation of the MT and DG soundings. Resistivity dispersion effects have also been observed at both ends of this profile. They have been ascribed to the presence of hydrothermally altered zones related to the main fracture systems bordering the caldera. A pressure/temperature source body at a mean depth of about 5 km bsl under the Bay of Pozzuoli has been inferred from the analysis of the 3D SP tomography imaging.