The 3550 year BP-1944 A.D.magma-plumbing system of Somma-Vesuvius: constraints on its behaviour and present state through a review of Sr-Nd isotope data

Vesuvius, dominating the densely-populated Neapolitan area, is one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the World. Its destructive power derives from energetic subplinian and plinian eruptions, such as the one which occurred in 79 A.D. Generally such large-scale events follow a long period of quiescence; a behaviour interpreted as the gradual build-up of magma volumes between periods of major activity. After the 1631 subplinian eruption until the last 1944 A.D. eruption, it experienced an almost continuous and less energetic explosive/effusive activity. The erupted magmas are characterized by undersaturated potassic to ultrapotassic nature, and compositional and Sr-isotopic variability. Furthermore geobarometric studies indicate two different crystallization depths located at 4 and >11 km, respectively. According to most of the recent literature, the eruptions were triggered by the injection in a shallower magma chamber, of isotopically distinct magma batches derived from heterogeneous mantle source(s) and/or contamination processes occurred within the deep reservoir. In our review of petrochemical data, we consider the period between the 3550 years BP plinian eruption and the 472 A.D. sub-plinian eruption, which includes 79 A.D. event, and the most recent period of activity which started in 1631 A.D. and lasted up to the 1944 A.D. eruption, characterized by a near continuous effusive/explosive activity. For both periods we identify a correlation between Sr-isotopical features of magmas and their crystallization depth. In particular, we show that pyroxenes have Sr-isotopic ratios lower than 0.7074 and an equilibrium crystallization depth of 22-11 km. Moreover feldspars have higher 87Sr/86Sr values (0.7075-7) and an equilibrium crystallization depth of about 4 km. Therefore the most radiogenic magmas did not derive from a deeper reservoir but their higher Sr-isotopic ratios have been acquired at a shallower depth likely by crustal contamination during magma evolution. In contrast, the lower Sr-isotope compositions characterise the less contaminated magmas coming from deeper crustal levels. On the basis of this evidence, the temporal Sr-isotopical variation of magma which erupted in the 1631-1944 A.D. period probably derives from the progressive withdrawal of the shallow magma chamber, which was completely empty before the 1805-1944 A.D. period of volcanism. Therefore the effusive and explosive events of the most recent 1805-1944 A.D. period were fed directly by the deep reservoir located at a depth exceding 11 km

Volcanic hazard assessment at the Campi Flegrei caldera

Previous and new results from probabilistic approaches based on available volcanological data from real eruptions of Campi Flegrei, are assembled in a comprehensive assessment of volcanic hazards at the Campi Flegrei caldera, in order to compare the volcanic hazards related to the different types of events. Hazard maps based on a very wide set of numerical simulations, produced using field and laboratory data as input parameters relative to the whole range of fallout and pyroclastic-flow events and their relative occurrence, are presented. The results allow us to quantitatively evaluate and compare the hazard related to pyroclastic fallout and density currents (PDCs) in the Campi Flegrei area and its surroundings, including the city of Naples. Due to the dominant wind directions, the hazard from fallout mostly affects the area east of the caldera, and the caldera itself, with the level of probability and expected thickness decreasing with distance from the caldera and outside the eastern sectors. The hazard from PDCs decrease roughly radially with distance from the caldera centre and is strongly controlled by the topographic relief, which produces an effective barrier to propagation of PDCs to the east and northeast, areas which include metropolitan Naples. The main result is that the metropolitan area of Naples would be directly exposed to both fallout and PDCs. Moreover, the level of probability for critical tephra accumulation by fallout is relatively high, even for moderate-scale events, while, due to the presence of topographic barriers, the hazard from PDCs is only moderate and mostly associated with the largest events

The Campi Flegrei caldera: unrest mechanisms and hazards

In the last four decades, Campi Flegrei caldera has been the world’s most active caldera characterized by intense unrest episodes involving huge ground deformation and seismicity, but, at the time of writing, has not culminated in an eruption. We present a careful review, with new analyses and interpretation, of all the data and recent research results. We deal with three main problems: the tentative reconstruction of the substructure; the modelling of unrest episodes to shed light on possible pre-eruptive scenarios; and the probabilistic estimation of the hazards from explosive pyroclastic products. The results show, for the first time at a volcano, that a very peculiar mechanism is generating episodes of unrest, involving mainly activation of the geothermal system from deeper magma reservoirs. The character and evolution of unrest episodes is strongly controlled by structural features, like the ring-fault system at the borders of the caldera collapse. The use of detailed volcanological, mathematical and statistical procedures also make it possible to obtain a detailed picture of eruptive hazards in the whole Neapolitan area. The complex behaviour of this caldera, involving interaction between magmatic and geothermal phenomena, sheds light on the dynamics of the most dangerous types of volcanoes in the world

Lethal Thermal Impact at Periphery of Pyroclastic Surges: Evidences at Pompeii

Background: The evaluation of mortality of pyroclastic surges and flows (PDCs) produced by explosive eruptions is a major goal in risk assessment and mitigation, particularly in distal reaches of flows that are often heavily urbanized. Pompeii and the nearby archaeological sites preserve the most complete set of evidence of the 79 AD catastrophic eruption recording its effects on structures and people. Methodology/Principal Findings: Here we investigate the causes of mortality in PDCs at Pompeii and surroundings on the bases of a multidisciplinary volcanological and bio-anthropological study. Field and laboratory study of the eruption products and victims merged with numerical simulations and experiments indicate that heat was the main cause of death of people, heretofore supposed to have died by ash suffocation. Our results show that exposure to at least 250uC hot surges at a distance of 10 kilometres from the vent was sufficient to cause instant death, even if people were sheltered within buildings. Despite the fact that impact force and exposure time to dusty gas declined toward PDCs periphery up to the survival conditions, lethal temperatures were maintained up to the PDCs extreme depositional limits. Conclusions/Significance: This evidence indicates that the risk in flow marginal zones could be underestimated by simply assuming that very thin distal deposits, resulting from PDCs with poor total particle load, correspond to negligible effects. Therefore our findings are essential for hazard plans development and for actions aimed to risk mitigation at Vesuvius an

Run 2 Upgrades to the CMS Level-1 Calorimeter Trigger

The CMS Level-1 calorimeter trigger is being upgraded in two stages to maintain performance as the LHC increases pile-up and instantaneous luminosity in its second run. In the first stage, improved algorithms including event-by-event pile-up corrections are used. New algorithms for heavy ion running have also been developed. In the second stage, higher granularity inputs and a time-multiplexed approach allow for improved position and energy resolution. Data processing in both stages of the upgrade is performed with new, Xilinx Virtex-7 based AMC cards.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figure

Triggering on electrons, jets and tau leptons with the CMS upgraded calorimeter trigger for the LHC RUN II

The Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment has implemented a sophisticated two-level online selection system that achieves a rejection factor of nearly 10e5. During Run II, the LHC will increase its centre-of-mass energy up to 13 TeV and progressively reach an instantaneous luminosity of 2e34cm-2s-1. In order to guarantee a successful and ambitious physics programme under this intense environment, the CMS Trigger and Data acquisition (DAQ) system has been upgraded. A novel concept for the L1 calorimeter trigger is introduced the Time Multiplexed Trigger (TMT). In this design, nine main receive each all of the calorimeter data from an entire event provided by 18 preprocessors. This design is not different from that of the CMS DAQ and HLT systems. The advantage of the TMT architecture is that a global view and full granularity of the calorimeters can be exploited by sophisticated algortihms. The goal is to maintain the current thresholds for calorimeter objects and improve the performance for their selection. The performance of these algorithms will be demonstrated, both in terms of efficiency and rate reduction. The callenging aspects of the pile-up mitigation and firmware design will be presented