Magnitude of the 39.8 ka Campanian Ignimbrite, Italy: insights from an
ignimbrite isopach map
Abstract
The 39.8 ka Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) is the largest caldera-forming
eruption of the Campi Flegrei during the Quaternary, which had a
global-scale impact on the environment and human populations. The
cooling following the eruption and the several effects of it strongly
affected the paleoenvironment and the migration of hominids in Europe.
The volume of the eruption is necessary to constrain the climate model
of this area in the past. However, despite a large number of studies,
the Dense Rock Equivalent (DRE) volume estimates range from 60 to 300
km3. Here we present a review of the previous volume evaluations and a
new calculation of the volume of the ignimbrite. This estimate is
constrained by the first total CI isopach map, developed through a
method able to reconstruct the paleo-topography during the eruption,
which is easily reproducible in all ignimbrites strongly topographically
controlled and allows the calculation of well-defined uncertainties. The
preserved total bulk extra-caldera volume of the ignimbrite is estimated
at 61.5 km3 ± 5.5 km3. The total PDC deposit volume is then corrected
for erosion, ash elutriation, the intracaldera deposit volume and the
volume of tephra deposited in the sea. The total final volume estimate
of the eruption ranges from 165 km^3 – 248 km^3 DRE. This value
corresponds to a mass of 4.3 - 6.5 x 10^14 kg, a magnitude (M) of 7.7
and a VEI of 7. This M makes the CI the largest-magnitude Quaternary
eruption in the Mediterranean area. The new detailed estimation of CI
eruption physical parameters confirms this event has significantly
affected human activity and the environment on a large scale at the time
of the eruption and, in the future, an event of this size would be
cataclysmic.