Drilling at Campi Flegrei Caldera (Southern Italy)
Description
Campi Flegrei caldera is an active volcanic area marked by a quasi-circular caldera depression, formed by huge ignimbritic eruptions. The caldera has recently experienced intense deformation, originating uplift phenomena of more than 3.5 m in 15 years, with maximum rates of 1 m/year in the period 1982-1984, which caused the temporary evacuation of 30,000 people from the centre of Pozzuoli and exposed more than 500,000 the risk of pyroclastic flows (several millions in case of an ignimbritic eruption).
The role of deep drilling at this area is then crucial. It will give a fundamental, precise insight into the shallow substructure, the geometry and character of the geothermal systems and their role in the unrest episodes, as well as to explain magma chemistry and the mechanisms of magma-water interaction. Detailed studies of ‘in situ' physical properties (e.g. temperature, sonic logs, permeability), at increasing depths will provide information about their evolution. Since Campi Flegrei is a typical example of collapse caldera, the inference about its substructure, thermal state, magma chamber and geothermal system will allow a considerable scientific step towards the understanding of the most peculiar and potentially catastrophic volcanic areas of the World.
The ‘Campi Flegrei Deep Drilling Project', approved in 2009 by ICDP, will be afforded in two steps. The first step, starting in October-November 2010, will be the drilling of a pilot hole, with depth of about 500 m, aimed to infer mechanical properties and temperatures of the host rocks, in order to plan the deep drilling and deviation in detail. The pilot hole is also aimed to study the volcanic stratigraphy of the eastern caldera border and to host innovative borehole sensors for volcano monitoring and risk mitigation. The second and final step, starting at the end of 2011, will be the drilling of a deep hole reaching 3.8 km of depth, deviated 25° from the vertical starting at a depth around 500 m, for a total offset of 1.5 km. Such a deep hole, which will reach hot temperatures likely around 500°C, is aimed to study in detail mechanical, thermal and fluid-dynamical properties of the whole geothermal system, putting firm constraints on the interpretation of unrest and pre-eruptive episodes. Moreover, the deeper part of the hole, lying below the maximum depth of aquifers, is aimed to determine, by linear extrapolation of the purely conductive gradient, the depth of shallowest magma pockets.
(Figure©: sketch of Campi Flegrei Deep Drilling Project using aerophotography on DEM)
See also:
Location
Europe, Italy, Gulf of Pozzuoli, Naples Bay, Campi Flegrei Caldera
Coordinates
40° 49' N, 14° 10.05' E (Please scroll down to end of page for more information.)
Project Start and End
- Pilot hole: April to June 2012
- Main hole: not yet determined
Programs and Funding
No Funding Info found for this project
Principal Investigators
- Giuseppe De Natale, Osservatorio Vesuviano (INGV), Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Seismology and Seismotectonics
- Jörg Erzinger, GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 4.2, Inorganic and Isotope Geochemistry
- David P. Hill, U.S. Geological Survey, USGS, Sacramento
- Christopher J.R. Kilburn, University College London, Department of Earth Sciences, Benfield Hazard Research Centre
- Agust Gudmundsson, Royal Holloway University of London, Department of Earth Sciences
- Luigi Burlini (†), Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), Department of Earth Sciences, Geological Institute
Partners and Contractors
- GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Scientific Drilling, (Operational Support Group OSG/ICDP)
- GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Section 4.2, Inorganic and Isotope Geochemistry
- Osservatorio Vesuviano (INGV), Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Seismology and Seismotectonics
- Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH), Department of Earth Sciences, Geological Institute
- U.S. Geological Survey, USGS, Menlo Park
- University College London, Department of Earth Sciences, Benfield Hazard Research Centre
- University of Goettingen, Geoscience Center, Department of Structural Geology and Geodynamics
Keywords
CAMPI-FLEGREI, Geothermal System, Geothermy, ICDP-2008/05, Italy, Magma Chamber, Volcanic Hazards, Volcanic Systems
Current State
Pilot hole started on July 15, 2012
Homepages
Google Earth/Maps
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| News Highlights | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ECORD/ICDP MagellanPlus Call for Proposals Lake Ohrid Drilling Recovered Continuous Record Lake El’gygytgyn Second Overview Paper Scientific Drilling Issue 15 Online 2013 International Van Earthquake Symposium NSF Workshop: Drilling Active Tectonics and Magmatism New SAG Composition for 2013 The Fennoscandian Arctic Russia - Drilling Early Earth Project Scientific Drilling Issue 14 Online Imaging the Past to Imagine our Future | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Daily News from Sites | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lake Ohrid:
In ca 87 m depth at the Cerava hole 2B, we found a conglomerate of gravel, sand and lots of snail and... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Calendar | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
NSF Workshop on Scientific Drilling and the Evolution of the Earth System NSF Workshop: Drilling Active Tectonics and Magmatism NSF Workshop: Drilling into High-Enthalpy Geothermal Systems | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Contacts | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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