Hydrothermal activity at Campi Flegrei caldera: rock mechanical properties and implications for outgassing and possible phreatic eruptions

Abstract:

The Solfatara and Pisciarelli fumaroles are the main surface manifestations of the vigorous hydrothermal activity within the Campi Flegrei caldera system. The existing fault system appears to have a major control on outgassing and leads to a strong alteration of the volcanic products in both areas. Consistent with the volcanic history of the area, Solfatara and Pisciarelli are posited as having the highest probability for the opening of new vents, and in particular for possible phreatic activity within the Campi Flegrei system.

Hydrothermal alteration deeply affects all the rocks exposed within Solfatara sector, including lava domes, breccias, as well as pyroclastic fallout ash beds and pyroclastic density current deposits. This results in changes of the volcanic rock’s original microstructure and of their physical and mechanical properties, which in turn control both the outgassing and their fragmentation behaviors.

Here, samples from the wall rocks in the vicinity of the Solfatara and Pisciarelli fumaroles have been subjected to geochemical, physical and mechanical properties characterization. In addition, surficial Solfatara crater floor deposits were characterized and their properties, in particular permeability, were mapped.

Results show that hydrothermal alteration increases porosity and permeability of the crater wall samples favoring outgassing, while decreasing the rock strength. At the crater floor the outgassing occurs mainly along the crack system, which has also generated crusted hummocks. Elsewhere the fluid circulation in the subsoil is favored by the presence of coarse and sulfur-hardened levels, whereas their surfacing is hindered by compacted fine-grained, low permeability layers.

Decompression experiments were performed to simulate a phreatic eruption at shallow depth. We used crater-wall samples representing the rocks in the proximity of high degassing areas. Changes in the fragmentation behavior and ejection dynamics, depending on the alteration degree of the sample, have been investigated and will be reported.