Abstract
Campi Flegrei is a caldera complex located west of Naples, Italy.
The last eruption occurred in 1538, although the volcano has produced
unrest episodes since then, involving rapid and large ground movements
(up to 2 m vertical in two years), accompanied by intense seismic
activity. Surface ground displacements detected by various techniques
(mainly InSAR and levelling) for the 1970 to 1996 period can be modelled
by a shallow point source in an elastic half-space, however the source
depth is not compatible with seismic and drill hole observations,
which suggest a magma chamber just below 4 km depth. This apparent
paradox has been explained by the presence of boundary fractures
marking the caldera collapse. We present here the first full 3-D
modelling for the unrest of 1982-1985 including the effect of caldera
bordering fractures and the topography. To model the presence of
topography and of the complex caldera rim discontinuities, we used
a mixed boundary elements method. The a priori caldera geometry is
determined initially from gravimetric modelling results and refined
by inversion. The presence of the caldera discontinuities allows
a fit to the 1982-1985 levelling data as good as, or better than,
in the continuous half-space case, with quite a different source
depth which fits the actual magma chamber position as seen from seismic
waves. These results show the importance of volcanic structures,
and mainly of caldera collapses, in ground deformation episodes.
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