Amelia Creek: a Proterozoic impact structure in the Davenport Ranges,Northern Territory

The Amelia Creek impact structure is located in Australia's Northern Territory in folded Palaeoproterozoic strata of the Davenport Ranges (20°51'S, 134°53′E). An impact origin is confirmed by presence of unequivocal shatter cones with apices that point upwards, and by planar microstructures in quartz grains from target sandstones of the Hatches Creek Group. Aeromagnetic, advanced spaceborne thermal emission and reflection radiometer (ASTER), and X-band synthetic aperture radar (X-SAR) images show an area of anomalous deformation in which smooth regional trends are disrupted by arcuate features at a 10 km radius to the north and south of the shock-metamorphosed rocks. However, no arcuate forms are apparent to the east and west of these shocked rocks, and instead, large south-southwest-trending faults are present about 6 km away on both sides. Despite pervasive shatter coning, typical of the central region of complex impact structures, no structural uplift is apparent, but instead the shocked rocks lie at the southern toe of a north-northeast-trending syncline. These shatter cones overprint and post-date the Palaeoproterozoic regional deformation, and thus, the impact structure has not been refolded and its abnormal form is likely due to pre-existing structure in the target rocks and/or an oblique impact. Small pockets of undeformed Late Neoproterozoic and Middle Cambrian strata are exposed in palaeovalleys in the central region of the structure, constraining the time of the impact to the Proterozoic.     

Matt Wilson structure: record of an impact event of possible Early Mesoproterozoic age,Northern Territory

The Matt Wilson structure is a circular 5.5 km-diameter structure in Early Mesoproterozoic or Neoproterozoic rocks of the Victoria Basin, Northern Territory. It lies in regionally horizontal to gently dipping Wondoan Hill and Stubb Formations (Tijunna Group) and Jasper Gorge Sandstone (Auvergne Group). An outer circumferential syncline with dips of 5?–?40° in the limbs surrounds an intermediate zone with faulted sandstone displaying horizontal to low dips, and a central steeply dipping zone about 1.5 km across. Several thrust faults in the outer syncline appear to indicate outward-directed forces. The central zone, marked by steeply dipping to overturned Tijunna Group and possibly Bullita Group sandstone and mudstone, indicates uplift of at least 300 m. The rocks are intensely fractured with some brecciation, and contain numerous planar to subtly undulating surfaces displaying striae which resemble shatter cleavage. Thin-sections of sandstone from the central area show zones of intense microbrecciation and irregular and planar fractures in quartz, but no melt-rocks have been identified. The planar fractures occur in multiple intersecting parallel sets typical of relatively low-level (5?–?10 GPa) shock-pressure effects. Alternative mechanisms, i.e. igneous intrusion, carbonate collapse, diapirism and regional deformation processes, have been discounted. The circular nature, central uplift, faulting, shatter features and planar fractures are all consistent with an impact origin. The Matt Wilson structure is most likely a deeply eroded impact structure in which the more highly shocked rocks of the original crater floor have been removed by erosion. Estimates of the age of the Auvergne and Tijunna Groups range from Early Mesoproterozoic (which we favour) to Late Neoproterozoic. Early Cambrian Antrim Plateau Volcanics near the impact structure show no signs of impact effects, allowing the age of impact to be constrained between Early Mesoproterozoic and Early Cambrian. The presence of widespread soft-sediment deformation features, apparently confined to a single horizon in the Saddle Creek Formation some 700?–?1000 m stratigraphically higher in the Auvergne Group than the rocks at the impact site, and apparently increasing in thickness towards the Matt Wilson structure, lead us to speculate that this probable event horizon is related to the impact event: if correct the impact occurred during deposition of the Saddle Creek Formation.     

Spider impact structure,Kimberley Plateau,Western Australia: interpretations of formation mechanism and age based on integrated map-scale data

The centre of the 13?×?11 km Spider impact structure, Western Australia, displays an unusual system of eroded folds and imbricated thrusts surrounding a sandstone dome. As inferred from GIS-integrated remote sensing, geological and digital elevation data, the structural setting of the original crater was influenced by, and hence post-dates, the formation of the Mt Barnett Syncline, the east?–?west-oriented axis of which runs through the Spider structure. The syncline formed during the regional Yampi Orogeny (ca 900 Ma), thus constraining the maximum age of the impact event. The sandstone dome in the centre of Spider formed prior to the imbrication, as interpreted from the present setting that indicates a deflection of the southward moving material during the crater collapse. Two modes of formation are discussed in order to explain the south-directed shortening in the Spider impact structure: (i) impact into the bottom of a syncline-controlled palaeovalley leading to uplift of the central crater floor followed by gravity-driven asymmetric sliding preferentially from the northern crater wall and valley slope, respectively; and (ii) moderately oblique (～10?–?30°) impact from the north onto the axis of the syncline, producing a central uplift under the influence of downrange residual momentum and, thus, asymmetric deformation inside the uplift and farther downrange. Neither model alone explains all the observations, and only a combination of both may provide a satisfactory solution.     

Gnargoo: a possible 75 km-diameter post-Early Permian – pre-Cretaceous buried impact structure,Carnarvon Basin,Western Australia

The Gnargoo structure is located on the Gascoyne Platform, Southern Carnarvon Basin, Western Australia, and is buried beneath about 500 m of Cretaceous and younger strata. The structure is interpreted as being of possible impact origin from major geophysical and morphometric signatures, characteristic of impact deformation, and its remarkable similarities with the proven Woodleigh impact structure, about 275 km to the south on the Gascoyne Platform. These similarities include: a circular Bouguer anomaly (slightly less well-defined at Gnargoo than at Woodleigh); a central structurally uplifted area comprising a buried dome with a central uplifted plug; and the lack of a significant magnetic anomaly. Gnargoo shows a weakly defined inner 10 km-diameter circular Bouguer anomaly surrounded by a broadly circular zone, ～75 km in diameter. The north?–?south Bouguer anomaly lineament of the Giralia Range (a regional topographic and structural feature) terminates abruptly against the outer circular zone which is, in turn, intersected on the eastern flank by the Wandagee Fault. A <?28 km-diameter layered sedimentary dome of Ordovician to Lower Permian strata, surrounding a cone-shaped, central uplift plug of 7?–?10 km diameter, are inferred from the seismic data. Seismic-reflection data indicate a minimum central structural uplift of 1.5 km, as compared to a model uplift of 7.3 km calculated from the outer structural diameter. An interpretation of Gnargoo in terms of a plutonic or volcanic caldera/ring origin is unlikely as these features display less regular geometry, are typically smaller and no volcanic rocks are known in the onshore Gascoyne Platform. An interpretation of Gnargoo as a salt dome is likewise unlikely because salt structures tend to have irregular geometry, and no extensive evaporite units are known in the Southern Carnarvon Basin. Morphometric estimates of the rim-to-rim diameter based on seismic data for the central dome correspond to the observed diameter deduced from gravity data, and fall within the range of morphometric parameters of known impact structures. The age of Gnargoo is constrained between the deformed Lower Permian target rocks and unconformably overlying undeformed Lower Cretaceous strata. Because of its large dimensions, if Gnargoo is an impact structure, it may have influenced an environmental catastrophe during this period.     

Geology and age of the Glikson impact structure,Western Australia

The Glikson structure is an aeromagnetic and structural anomaly located in the Little Sandy Desert of Western Australia (23°59'S, 121°34′E). Shatter cones and planar microstructures in quartz grains are present in a highly deformed central region, suggesting an impact origin. Circumferential shortening folds and chaotically disposed bedding define a 19 km-diameter area of deformation. Glikson is located in the northwestern Officer Basin in otherwise nearly flat-lying sandstone, siltstone and conglomerate of the Neoproterozoic Mundadjini Formation, intruded by dolerite sills. The structure would not have been detected if not for its strong ring-shaped aeromagnetic anomaly, which has a 10 km inner diameter and a 14 km outer diameter. We interpret the circular magnetic signature as the product of truncation and folding of mafic sills into a ring syncline. The sills most likely correlate with dolerites that intrude the Boondawari Formation ～25 km to the north, for which we report a SHRIMP U?–?Pb baddeleyite and zircon age of 508?±?5 Ma, providing a precise older limit for the impact event that formed the Glikson structure.     

Gulpuliyul structure: a possible impact structure of Mesoproterozoic age in western Arnhem Land,Northern Territory

The Gulpuliyul structure is the eroded remains of a possible impact structure of Mesoproterozoic age, in western Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, on the Arnhem Shelf of the northwestern McArthur Basin. Enigmatic, highly deformed and brecciated strata, within the roughly circular or pentagonal feature about 8.5 km across, contrast with mildly deformed rocks of the surrounding Arnhem Shelf. Shock-metamorphic features have yet to be observed. Other features of the Gulpuliyul Structure are: (i) sharp and faulted outer boundaries; (ii) strata within the structure are younger than adjacent country rocks; i.e., the rocks have been emplaced downwards into the structure; (iii) outcrops display an overall concentric or tangential pattern, the stratigraphy is essentially coherent, and there is an overall younging from the centre outwards; and (iv) strata are commonly overturned by southward-directed thrusting and recumbent folding. It is suggested that the projectile impacted at a shallow angle from the north, to produce a southward-deepening crater about 8.5 km across. The depth of the transient crater was probably between ～500?–?700 m (minimum) and ～800 m (maximum). The central uplift probably rebounded only about 300?–?400 m. The present erosion level is thought to lie near the top of the low central uplift, at about or just below the floor of the final crater. The age of the possible impact is Mesoproterozoic (ca 1600?–?1325 Ma); it is most likely to have occurred very early in the Mesoproterozoic (1600?–?1500 Ma).     

绳索取心定向钻井工艺在陡倾角岩层中的应用

贵州威宁阳关寨勘查区位于格目底向斜南西翼的西段,主要含煤地层为宣威组。勘查区西南部岩层较陡,倾角60。以上,特别是ZK102、ZK202、ZK302钻孔岩层倾角超过80°。如按常规垂直井设计,钻孔深度超过1400m,施工难度大。在分析勘查区绳索取心直井钻进困难和定向钻进优点基础上,对小口径绳索取心定向钻进技术可行性进行分析后认为：如把钻孔轨迹的曲率控制在10°／100m以内、增大曲率半径减小最大井斜、配备适合的定向仪器、增购高强度钻具,将定向钻井技术与绳索取心工艺相结合的方案是可行的。并以ZK202为例,介绍了定向孔井身轨迹的设计、钻进技术参数的选择、冲洗液的要求、造斜段措施等。钻探实践表明,采用绳索取心定向钻进技术在该区共施工3个钻孔,与原直井设计比较,减少钻探工程量2000余米,节约勘探成本约150万元,同时缩短工期约3个月,且控制目标煤层精确,完全达到地质设计目的。通过本次施工,为类似地层钻进积累了丰富的实践经验。     

UNAM Scientific Shallow-Drilling Program of the Chicxulub Impact Crater

A scientific drilling program is being carried out by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) at the southern sector of the Chicxulub impact crater in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Eight boreholes, ranging in depth from 60 m to 702 m, with a total of 2.62 km of continuos core, were recovered. A high recovery rate of up to 99% (overall average recovery rate for the eight boreholes is 87%) allows us to investigate in detail the stratigraphy of the impact lithologies and the Tertiary carbonate sequence. Three of the boreholes (UNAM-5, UNAM-6, and UNAM-7, with core recovery rates from 89 to 99%) sampled impact breccias that were classified in two units—an upper breccia sequence rich in basement clasts, impact glass, and fragments of melt (suevitelike breccia) and a lower breccia sequence rich in limestone, dolomite, and evaporite clasts (bunte-like breccia). Depths of contact between the Tertiary carbonate sequence and the impact breccias are 332.0 m in UNAM-5, 222.2 m in UNAM-7, and 282.8 m in UNAM-6, giving the depth to the K/T boundary. In UNAM-7, the contact between the upper and the lower breccias is at 348.4 m, which yields a thickness of 126.2 m for the suevitelike breccia. The rest of the boreholes sampled part of the Tertiary carbonate sequence (～200 m thick), composed mainly of limestones, dolomitized carbonates, and calcarenite, with some fossiliferous horizons.     

The Oligocene gap in the formation of Co-rich ferromanganese crusts and sedimentation in the Pacific Ocean and the effects of bottom currents

The Marcus Wake and Magellan guyots formed about 129–74 Ma ago at 10°–30° S and drifted 1700–4400 km to their present-day latitudinal position across the equatorial zone of maximum deposition. Cooling of the Pacific plate brought these guyots to the northern arid zone during the Turonian–Maastrichtian, to depths at which sediment accumulation rates were low and the conditions promoted precipitation of Co-rich Fe–Mn crusts from the Campanian to the present. Nonprecipitation of Co-rich Fe–Mn crusts during the Oligocene was caused by the action of bottom currents. The presence of a hiatus identified in cores from drill holes was used as the basis for reconstruction of the directions of bottom currents in the Oligocene.     

91单动三重半合管钻具的研制与应用

为了提高松软复杂地层岩矿心采取率和岩矿心的质量,弥补普通双管钻具取心功能的不足,特别研制了91单动三重半合管钻具。介绍了钻具的结构、工作原理、组装、维护保养及在3个不同矿区5个钻孔的野外生产应用情况。应用结果表明,该钻具适宜松散地层钻进,岩矿心采取率达到了100%,同时防止了岩矿心被外界扰动,保持了岩矿心的原状性,提高了岩矿心的质量并利于岩矿心后期的运输与储藏。     

Cretaceous Oceanic Red Beds: Distribution, Lithostratigraphy and Paleoenvironments

Cretaceous oceanic red beds (CORBs) represented by red shales and marls, were deposited during the Cretaceous and early Paleocene, predominantly in the Tethyan realm, in lower slope and abyssal basin environments. Detailed studies of CORBs are rare; therefore, we compiled CORBs data from deep sea ocean drilling cores and outcrops of Cretaceous rocks subaerially exposed in southern Europe, northwestern Germany, Asia and New Zealand. In the Tethyan realm, CORBs mainly consist of reddish or pink shales, limestones and marlstones. By contrast, marlstones and chalks are rare in deep-ocean drilling cores. Upper Cretaceous marine sediments in cores from the Atlantic Ocean are predominantly various shades of brown, reddish brown, yellowish brown and pale brown in color. A few red, pink, yellow and orange Cretaceous sediments are also present. The commonest age of CORBs is early Campanian to Maastrichtian, with the onset mostly of oxic deposition often after Oceanic Anoxic Events (OAEs), during the early Aptian, late Albian-early Turonian and Campanian. This suggests an indicated and previously not recognized relationship between OAEs, black shales deposition and CORBs. CORBs even though globally distributed, are most common in the North Atlantic and Tethyan realms, in low to mid latitudes of the northern hemisphere; in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean in the mid to high latitudes of the southern hemisphere; and are less frequent in the central Pacific Ocean. Their widespread occurrence during the late Cretaceous might have been the result of establishing a connection for deep oceanic current circulation between the Pacific and the evolving connection between South and North Atlantic and changes in oceanic basins ventilation.     

Upper Campanian–Maastrichtian holostratigraphy of the eastern Danish Basin

One of the most expanded upper Campanian–Maastrichtian successions worldwide has been cored in a series of boreholes in eastern Denmark. A high-resolution holostratigraphic analysis of this part of the Chalk Group has been undertaken on these cores, notably Stevns-1, in order to provide a record of changes in chalk facies, water depths and sea-water temperatures. Combined lithological data, a suite of petrophysical logs including gamma ray (GR) logs, nannofossil and dinoflagellate palaeontology, stable carbon isotopes, seismic reflection and refraction sections form the basis for the definition of two new formations and six members, three of which are new, and for recognition of Boreal nannofossil subzones UC15e^BP to UC20d^BP. The upper Campanian–lowermost Maastrichtian Mandehoved Formation is subdivided into the Flagbanke and Boesdal Members and the Maastrichtian Møns Klint Formation is subdivided into the Hvidskud, Rørdal, Sigerslev, Kjølby Gaard Marl and Højerup Members. The Boesdal and Rørdal Members show high GR values and a pronounced chalk-marl cyclicity. The Rørdal and the thin Kjølby Gaard Marl Members have a regional distribution and can be traced over most of the Danish Basin, whereas the Højerup Member is restricted to the easternmost part of Sjælland. The other members consist of rather featureless white chalk.     

Meso‐Cenozoic Tectonothermal History of Permian Strata,Southwestern Weibei Uplift: Insights from Thermochronology and Geothermometry

This study provides an integrated interpretation for the Mesozoic-Cenozoic tectonothermal evolutionary history of the Permian strata in the Qishan area of the southwestern Weibei Uplift, Ordos Basin. Apatite fission-track and apatite/zircon(U-Th)/He thermochronometry, bitumen reflectance, thermal conductivity of rocks, paleotemperature recovery, and basin modeling were used to restore the Meso-Cenozoic tectonothermal history of the Permian Strata. The Triassic AFT data have a pooled age of ～180±7 Ma with one age peak and P(χ2)=86%. The average value of corrected apatite(U-Th)/He age of two Permian sandstones is ～168±4 Ma and a zircon(U-Th)/He age from the Cambrian strata is ～231±14 Ma. Bitumen reflectance and maximum paleotemperature of two Ordovician mudstones are 1.81%, 1.57% and ～210°C, ～196°C respectively. After undergoing a rapid subsidence and increasing temperature in Triassic influenced by intrusive rocks in some areas, the Permian strata experienced four cooling-uplift stages after the time when the maximum paleotemperature reached in late Jurassic:(1) A cooling stage(～163 Ma to ～140 Ma) with temperatures ranging from ～132°C to ～53°C and a cooling rate of ～3°C/Ma, an erosion thickness of ～1900 m and an uplift rate of ～82 m/Ma;(2) A cooling stage(～140 Ma to ～52 Ma) with temperatures ranging from ～53°C to ～47°C and a cooling rate less than ～0.1°C/Ma, an erosion thickness of ～300 m and an uplift rate of ～3 m/Ma;(3)(～52 Ma to ～8 Ma) with ～47°C to ～43°C and ～0.1°C/Ma, an erosion thickness of ～500 m and an uplift rate of ～11 m/Ma;(3)(～8 Ma to present) with ～43°C to ～20°C and ～3°C/Ma, an erosion thickness of ～650 m and an uplift rate of ～81 m/Ma. The tectonothermal evolutionary history of the Qishan area in Triassic was influenced by the interaction of the Qinling Orogeny and the Weibei Uplift, and the south Qishan area had the earliest uplift-cooling time compared to other parts within the Weibei Uplift. The early Eocene at ～52 Ma and the late Miocene at ～8 Ma, as two significant turning points after which both the rate of uplift and the rate of temperature changed rapidly, were two key time for the uplift-cooling history of the Permian strata in the Qishan area of the southwestern Weibei Uplift, Ordos Basin.     

Stratigraphy and radiolarians of upper cretaceous sedimentary cover of the Arakapas ophiolite massif (Cyprus)

In the basal interval, sedimentary cover of the Arakapas ophiolite massif (southern Cyprus) is composed of metalliferous sediments of the Perapedhi Formation that is divided into three sequences based on diverse radiolarian assemblages. These are basal umbers of the Cenomanian age presumably (2–20 m), interlayering cherts and umbers of the Turonian-Coniacian (6–10 m), and opoka-like cherts of the Coniacian-Santonian. Higher in the succession, there are olistostrome deposits of the Moni Formation, which unconformably rest on the eroded underlying strata. In this formation also divisible into three sequences, the lower one 200 to 300 m thick is composed of variegated, presumably Campanian silty clays containing olistoliths of basic, presumably Upper Triassic volcanics, Lower Cretaceous sandstones, and opoka-like cherts and cherty limestones of the Albian-lower Cenomanian. Next sequence (100–200 m) is represented by alternation of variegated silty and green bentonitic clays of the Campaian, which enclose frequent olistoliths and horizons of fine-clastic olistostrome breccias. The upper sequence of upper Campanian-lower Maastrichtian bentonitic clays (50–100 m) contains interlayers of ash tuffs and clayey cherty sediments. Carbonate deposits of the upper Maastrichtian-Paleogene, conformably overlie the Moni Formation.     

塔里木盆地志留系震积岩特征及其意义

在区域构造背景研究和岩心观察的基础上,在塔里木盆地志留纪地层中识别出震积岩。震积岩的主要标志是发育各种类型的软沉积变形构造,包括微阶梯状正断层、层内小褶皱、扭曲变形、振动液化砂岩脉、震塌岩等。通过对中1井、顺1井、沙98井等岩心的系统观察,发现由于地震强度的不同,震积岩的垂向序列有所不同,地震越强烈,其震积岩序列的完整性越好,确定出震积岩的两种垂向序列。由于不同的震积岩构造特征对应不同的地震强度,因此进一步研究了各种震积岩构造与地震强度的关系。这些研究为塔里木盆地构造演化研究及震积岩的识别和描述提供了重要的地质理论依据,并可为研究该区古地震提供依据。     

南黄海中部隆起海相中-古生界科学钻探CSDP-2井选址

2014年,大陆架科学钻探项目（CSDP）确定采用自主研发的轻便型海洋钻井平台"探海1号"在南黄海盆地中部隆起上实施首口科学钻探井（CSDP-2井）,其科学目标是探查中部隆起的中-古生界地质结构和油气地质条件,解决南黄海中部隆起海相残留盆地长期悬而未决的地层属性问题,同时为区域地质、海陆演化与海相油气资源前景研究和评价提供基础资料。据此确定钻孔的选址原则为：钻探海域水深不超过30 m,在预定2 800 m的钻探深度范围内钻遇多套完整的中-古生界海相地层。根据钻探目标和选址原则,针对中部隆起没有钻探资料的状况,以区域地质特征和周边钻井对比为参考,以地震资料多属性解释为手段,标定了地震反射层位,解释并编制了反射层构造图,拟定了钻探井位,预测了钻探层位;采用地震储层预测技术预测了有利储层。上述工作形成了无井勘探区的钻探井位部署技术流程和方法,经钻探厘定了三叠纪-奥陶纪海相沉积层,并发现了多个油气显示层,达到了预定钻探目标。     

Dentaries of a caenagnathid (Dinosauria: Theropoda) from the Nemegt Formation of the Gobi Desert in Mongolia

A symphyseal region of the fused dentaries of a caenagnathid theropod is described from the Upper Cretaceous Nemegt Formation at the Bugin Tsav locality in the Mongolian Gobi Desert. In contrast to the high diversity of Caenagnathidae in the upper Campanian to Maastrichtian in North America, only specimens of a single caenagnathid, Elmisaurus raurus, have been reported in the coeval strata in Asia. Although dentaries are commonly-found bones in the fossil record of Caenagnathidae, the present specimen is the first discovery of caenagnathid dentaries from the upper Campanian to Maastrichtian in Asia. The Nemegt Formation is unique for its diverse oviraptorosaurian fauna that includes both Caenagnathidae and Oviraptoridae as well as the non-caenagnathoid Avimimus portentosus. Hypothesized coexistence of eolian and fluvial environments in the Gobi Basin during the deposition of the Nemegt Formation might explain such co-occurrence of Caenagnathidae and Oviraptoridae.     

Uplift and denudation of Mt Sanqingshan Geopark,Jiangxi Province,China

Mt Sanqingshan, a global Geopark and world natural heritage site located in Jiangxi Province, China, is famous for its eroded granite peaks. The uplift and denudation history of the area has been reconstructed using fission track methods for the first time. Apatite fission track ages (AFTAs) cluster into three groups at ca. 25 Ma, 45–55 Ma, and 70 Ma. These ages can be related to ancient multilevel denudation planes at about 900, 1200, and 1500 m above sea level, respectively. The apatite data also reveal four cooling stages for the Mt Sanqingshan region, from ca. 90 to 65–60 Ma, 65–60 to 45 Ma, 45 to 20–15 Ma, and 20–15 Ma to the present, with cooling rates of 1.96°C, 1.18°C, 0.37°C, and 3.78°C per million years, respectively, and an average cooling rate of 1.80°C per million years. Calculated uplift rates are 0.055, 0.034, 0.011, and 0.11 mm year^?1 in the four stages, yielding uplifts of 4140, 570, 290, and 1940 m, respectively. The uplift rate of the last stage was significantly faster than that of the other three preceding stages, reflecting rejuvenation of Mt Sanqingshan, as a result of new tectonism. The average uplift rate at Mt Sanqingshan is 0.053 mm year^?1, and the average denudation rate is 0.048 mm year^?1, resulting in 3550 m of uplift and 2540 m of denudation relative to eustatic sea level. The 1010 m difference is very close to the average elevation of about 1000 m at present. A comparison of uplift–denudation histories for Mt Sanqingshan and Mt Huangshan shows that fission track results can be useful for defining geomorphological development stages.     

The volcanic and geothermally active Campi Flegrei caldera: an integrated multidisciplinary image of its buried structure

The Campi Flegrei caldera in southern Italy is one of the greatest geohazard areas on Earth. Evidence of an active magmatic and geothermal system is provided by ongoing ground uplift, with volcano-tectonic and long-period (LP) seismicity, the persistent degassing of ~1500 tonnes of CO₂ per day, the presence of hot fumaroles at temperatures of 90–150 °C, brine-rich aquifers (with total dissolved solids up to 33 g l^?1) and high thermal gradients in the crust (with temperatures reaching 420 °C at 3,050 m b.s.l.). Since the 1940s, more than 100 exploratory boreholes have been drilled in the area to depths of 80–3,100 m by the Azienda Geologica Italiana Petroli (AGIP) and the Società Anonima Forze Endogene Napoletane (SAFEN). To date, however, no systematic reanalysis of the drilling data has been carried out, and the buried volcanic structure has not been updated using the most recent scientific results and previous findings. By integrating unpublished data from the AGIP and SAFEN reports with published information from geological, volcanological, petrological, petrophysical and geophysical studies, this paper presents an improved picture of the Campi Flegrei caldera that will be useful for volcanic hazard assessment and mitigation in the Naples area and for future research planning. The results suggest that intra-caldera activity has been influenced by how the magmatic system at depths greater than about 4 km has determined the transfer of magma, volatiles, and heat to the overlying geothermal system and, ultimately, to the surface. In particular, intriguing is that the most volcanically active central-eastern sector of the caldera, which is subject to intense bradyseismic ground movement and gas emission, coincides with a structurally delimited subsurface rock volume characterized by an uprising of the 100 °C isotherm, a deep water supply to the shallower aquifer, the early disappearance of secondary calcite, LP seismicity and high seismic S-wave attenuation. In this area, we also document evidence of repeated injection at depths of c. 1.5–3.0 km of isolated and small-volume batches of magma, where occurred their crystallization and degassing. Shallow intrusions and degassing of magma are thus identified as two of the key processes that drive unrest in Campi Flegrei.