The feeding system of Agnano–Monte Spina eruption (Campi Flegrei, Italy): Dragging the past into present activity and future scenarios

Abstract

Magmatic processes triggering eruptions at Campi Flegrei caldera (southern Italy) and their relationships with the widespread emissions of fluids and caldera unrest episodes, are poorly constrained. The 4.1 ka B.P. Agnano–Monte Spina eruption, the reference event for a future large-size explosive eruption at Campi Flegrei, was investigated to shed light, through melt inclusion and isotope analyses, on the geochemical processes operating in the plumbing system. Chemical and isotopic data on whole rocks and glasses suggest that at least two magma batches mixed during the course of the eruption. Melt inclusion data highlight the pre-eruption storage conditions of two magmatic end-members. One end-member is like the less differentiated (shoshonitic) Campi Flegrei erupted magma, while the other could be a residual of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff magma. Mixing between these two components was driven by a large gas phase which sustained the ascent of magmas of deep provenance. The H2O and CO2 contents in pyroxene-hosted melt inclusions yield entrapment pressures between 107 and 211 MPa, corresponding to depths between 4 and 8 km. The degassing trends reveal two extreme patterns. One pattern, already documented in the literature, is the volatile signature of poorly differentiated magmas ascending from more than 8 km depth, while the other is related to a gas-dominated magma, flushed by a CO2-rich gas phase partly released from the deep reservoir. This study provides a conceptual frame for unrest phases at Campi Flegrei, such as the 1982–84 event. Uplift phases can be related to closed-system ascent of magmas and fluids from more than 8 km depth, and their emplacement at shallow levels. This leads the shallow system to store, and then progressively release, the accumulated gas. In this view, both unrest episodes and eruptions could be strongly influenced by both the achievement of a critical upper limit of gas storage in the shallow magmatic reservoir and the stress and fracturing state of the roof rocks. The present results help to constrain the preeruptive conditions expected at Campi Flegrei caldera in case of a future large-size eruptive event.