U.S.-Italy Cooperative Research: The Campanian Ignimbrite Eruption and Emplacement

该奖项将支持加州大学圣巴巴拉分校的Richard Fisher教授与那不勒斯大学的G. Orsi、G. Capaldi和L. Civetta教授合作进行的一项研究。那不勒斯是南欧最伟大的城市之一，它坐落在一个年轻的（大约33,500年），大体积（超过80立方公里）的火山喷发形成的褐煤板上。这种坎帕尼亚火英briite (CI)，出现在距离其可能的来源100公里的地方，作为一种高能火山碎屑流穿过高山山脊。CI的来源被认为是在那不勒斯郊区的Phlegrean Fields。研究人员打算(1)建立坎帕尼亚火山爆发的年代和化学趋势，该火山爆发产生了最早沉积的火山泥和烟灰岩片；(2)确定初始喷发类型（原碎屑和/或水碎屑）和随后的喷发活动；(3)通过研究CI下方薄地层的起源来解释流动机制。为了揭示其历史及其对未来活动的预示，对这种烟灰进行详细的实地和实验室研究是必要的。如果CI来源于海底，这将是第一次有记录的海底烟灰煤，这将有可能首次表征水下烟灰煤的物理和化学性质，并为其识别提供岩石学标准。

This award will support Professor Richard Fisher of the University of California at Santa Barbara in a research collaboration with Professors G. Orsi, G. Capaldi, and L. Civetta of the University of Naples. One of southern Europe's great cities, Naples, is located on a young (approximately 33,500 years), large volume (greater than 80 cubic kilometers) ignimbrite sheet resulting from a volcanic eruption. This Campanian Ignimbrite (CI), occurs up to 100 km. from its probable source, having moved as an energetic pyroclastic flow across high mountain ridges. The source of the CI is believed to be in the Phlegrean Fields, located in the Neapolitan suburbs. The researchers intend (1) to establish chronology and chemical trends of the initial Campanian eruption that produced the first-deposited tephra and the ignimbrite sheet; (2) to determine the type of initiating eruption (pryoclastic and/or hydroclastic) and subsequent eruptive activity; and (3) to interpret flow mechanisms by studying the origin of the thin ground layer that occurs beneath the CI. Detailed field and laboratory studies of this ignimbrite are necessary for the purpose of unraveling its history and what that portends for future activity. If the CI originated from beneath the sea, it will be the first such ignimbrite to be documented, and it would be possible for the first time to characterize physical and chemical attributes of subaqueous ignimbrite and provide petrologic criteria for their recognition.