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Timescales of magmatic processes prior to the ∼4.7 ka Agnano-Monte Spina eruption (Campi Flegrei caldera, Southern Italy) based on diffusion chronometry from sanidine phenocrysts

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Abstract

Barium diffusion chronometry applied to sanidine phenocrysts from the trachytic Agnano-Monte Spina eruption (∼4.7 ka) constrains the time between reactivation and eruption of magma batches in the Campi Flegrei caldera. Backscattered electron imaging and quantitative electron microprobe measurements on 50 sanidine phenocrysts from representative pumice samples document core-to-rim compositional zoning. We focus on compositional breaks near the crystal rims that record magma mixing processes just prior to eruption. Diffusion times were modeled at a magmatic temperature of 930 °C using profiles based on quantitative BaO point analyses, X-ray scans, and grayscale swath profiles, yielding times ≤60 years between mixing and eruption. Such short timescales are consistent with volcanological and geochronological data that indicate that at least six eruptions occurred in the Agnano-San Vito area during few centuries before the Agnano-Monte Spina eruption. Thus, the short diffusion timescales are similar to time intervals between eruptions. Therefore, the rejuvenation time of magma residing in a shallow reservoir after influx of a new magma batch that triggered the eruption, and thus pre-eruption warning times, may be as short as years to a few decades at Campi Flegrei caldera.

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Acknowledgments

This study is part of the framework of “Project V2—Precursori di Eruzioni,” funded to M.D. by the Dipartimento per la Protezione Civile (DPC)–Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (2013–2015), of DFG project Wo 362/42-1 funded to G.W., and of DAAD-MIUR Joint Mobility Program no. 57266092 funded to G.W. and M.D. This paper does not necessarily represent DPC official opinions and policies. T. Di Rocco, L. Francalanci, A. Kronz, D. Perugini, and M. Petrelli are thanked for analytical support and discussions. We are very grateful to the Associate Editor P.J. Wallace, as well as D. Morgan and a second anonymous reviewer, for their constructive comments and suggestions. D. Morgan is also acknowledged for his kind assistance in elaboration of the cumulative frequency plot.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geowissenschaftliches Zentrum, Georg-August-Universität (GZG), Goldschmidtstrasse 1, 37077, Göttingen, Germany

    Raffaella Silvia Iovine & Gerhard Wörner

  2. Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra, dell’Ambiente e delle Risorse (DiSTAR), University of Naples Federico II, Largo S. Marcellino 10, 80138, Naples, Italy

    Lorenzo Fedele, Fabio Carmine Mazzeo, Giovanni Orsi, Lucia Civetta & Massimo D’Antonio

  3. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)–Sezione di Napoli Osservatorio Vesuviano, Via Diocleziano 328, 80124, Naples, Italy

    Ilenia Arienzo & Massimo D’Antonio

  4. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)–Sezione Roma1, Via di Vigna Murata 605, 00143, Rome, Italy

    Andrea Cavallo

  5. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)–Sezione di Palermo, Via U. La Malfa 153, 90146, Palermo, Italy

    Lucia Civetta

Authors
  1. Raffaella Silvia Iovine
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  2. Lorenzo Fedele
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  3. Fabio Carmine Mazzeo
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  4. Ilenia Arienzo
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  7. Giovanni Orsi
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  8. Lucia Civetta
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  9. Massimo D’Antonio
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Correspondence to Massimo D’Antonio.

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Editorial responsibility: P. Wallace

Electronic supplementary material

ESM 1

EMP analyses, BSE images, accumulated maps, and X-ray scans for selected sanidines of A-MS Member A (XLSX 25602 kb)

ESM 2

EMP analyses, BSE images, accumulated maps, and X-ray scans for selected sanidines of A-MS Member B (XLSX 7195 kb)

ESM 3

EMP analyses, BSE images, accumulated maps, and X-ray scans for selected sanidines of A-MS Member D (XLSX 8672 kb)

ESM 4

BaO content vs. gray value binary diagram for crystal Acx6, showing the equation of regression line and its parameters (XLSX 932 kb)

ESM 5

Temperature estimates obtained through two-feldspar geothermometry on plagioclase-sanidine pairs, and Cpx-melt geothermometry (Putirka 2008) from A-MS products (XLSX 54 kb)

ESM 6

Timescale estimates for Agnano-Monte Spina sanidine phenocrysts derived from Ba diffusion models across selected transects, calculated for temperatures of 900, 930 and 950 °C (XLSX 27 kb)

ESM 7

Frequency histograms for all age estimates based on the three methodologies, calculated for temperatures of 900, 930 and 950 °C (XLSX 98 kb)

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Iovine, R.S., Fedele, L., Mazzeo, F.C. et al. Timescales of magmatic processes prior to the ∼4.7 ka Agnano-Monte Spina eruption (Campi Flegrei caldera, Southern Italy) based on diffusion chronometry from sanidine phenocrysts. Bull Volcanol 79, 18 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-017-1101-4

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