A model of the Phlegraean Fields magma chamber in the last 10,500 years

Volcanological and petrological data suggest that the Phlegraean Fields volcanic activity has been fed, at least in the last 10,500 years, by a not-refilled magma chamber where trachytic residual liquids were produced by fractionation of a trachybasaltic magma. Using estimated volumes of the erupted products andP–T data obtained through petrological studies, a conductive thermal model of the chamber was built up in order to estimate its past and present size. Results suggest a volume decrease from approximately 14 to 1.4 km³ of the trachybasaltic magma in 10,500 years. Trachytic liquid would also be present in the chamber in a minimum amount of 0.4 km³. The model allowed some insights on the petrogenesis of the Phlegraean trachytes, suggesting that they were erupted as liquids because thermally buffered within the magma chamber.