Caldera unrest driven by CO₂-induced drying of the deep hydrothermal system.

ABSTRACT: Interpreting volcanic unrest is a highly challenging and non-unique problem at calderas, since large hydrothermal systems may either hide or amplify the dynamics of buried magma(s). Here we use the exceptional ground displacement and geochemical datasets from the actively degassing Campi Flegrei caldera (Southern Italy) to show that ambiguities disappear when the thermal evolution of the deep hydrothermal system is accurately tracked. By using temperatures from the CO₂-CH₄ exchange of ¹³C and thermodynamic analysis of gas ascending in the crust, we demonstrate that after the last 1982-84 crisis the deep hydrothermal system evolved through supercritical conditions under the continuous isenthalpic inflow of hot CO₂-rich gases released from the deep

SUBMITTER: Moretti R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5974283 | biostudies-literature | 2018 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature