Calderas are collapse structures related to the emptying of magmatic reservoirs, often associated with large eruptions from long-lived magmatic systems. Understanding how magma is transferred from a magma reservoir to the surface before eruptions is a major challenge. Here we exploit the historical, archaeological and geological record of Campi Flegrei caldera to estimate the surface deformation preceding the Monte Nuovo eruption and investigate the shallow magma transfer. Our data suggest a progressive magma accumulation from ~1251 to 1536 in a 4.6 ± 0.9 km deep source below the caldera centre, and its transfer, between 1536 and 1538, to a 3.8 ± 0.6 km deep magmatic source ~4 km NW of the caldera centre, below Monte Nuovo; this peripheral source fed the eruption through a shallower source, 0.4 ± 0.3 km deep. This is the first reconstruction of pre-eruptive magma transfer at Campi Flegrei and corroborates the existence of a stationary oblate source, below the caldera centre, that has been feeding lateral eruptions for the last ~5 ka. Our results suggest: 1) repeated emplacement of magma through intrusions below the caldera centre; 2) occasional lateral transfer of magma feeding non-central eruptions within the caldera. Comparison with historical unrest at calderas worldwide suggests that this behavior is common.

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Integration of high‐resolution geophysical and hydrogeological investigations at Solfatara Volcano, Campi Flegrei, Italy, allowed us to (1) image the shallow and intermediate subsurface to the crater, (2) elucidate patterns in the shallow subsurface degassing, and (3) refine and upgrade volcano‐monitoring strategies for this dynamic area. Our results show that the subsurface to the crater can be divided roughly into two zones: a dry, outcropping layer overlying a horizon saturated by hydrothermal fluids. Within this saturated zone, intersections of dominant NW‐ and ENE‐striking structural lineaments act as preferential escape conduits for the fluids which generate high microseismic noise amplitudes in the southeastern part of the crater. Hydrogeological data suggest an uprising of the isotherms below Solfatara crater, and a marked increment of fluid degassing, over the last 40 years. Sudden variations of both seismic noise level and noise cycling are positively correlated with early stages of ground inflation during the AD 2000 uplift. We believe therefore that monitoring of seismic noise can be used for upgrading early warning strategies in this sector of the Campi Flegrei volcanic system.

[1] We present results obtained via an innovative spaceborne SAR interferometry algorithm showing that the Somma-Vesuvius volcanic complex, despite of its quiescent stage, is subject to a particular deformation process. This is characterized by a rather continuous subsidence, revealed by ERS satellite data and levelling surveys, between 1992 and 2000. These deformations are mainly localized in two zones involving the Vesuvius cone and a narrow annular area that, although not fully continuously, extends around the base of the Somma edifice. We propose an interpretation of subsidence at both sites involving joint effects of gravitational sliding and extensional tectonic stress occurring at the contact between different lithological units. Some simple elastic models show how such localized subsidence can be generated. These results shed new light on the Vesuvius dynamics and, more generally, on the link between gravitational effects of volcano loading and seismic-deformative processes, which is a subject of intense scientific debate.

We investigate the 2004–2006 uplift phase of Campi Flegrei caldera (Italy) by exploiting the archive of ascending and descending ENVISAT SAR data acquired from November 2002 to November 2006. The SBAS‐DInSAR technique is applied to generate displacement mean velocity maps and time series. An appropriate post‐processing step is subsequently applied to map the areas whose temporal deformation behavior is correlated with that of the maximum uplift zone. Our results show that the deformation also extends outside the volcanological limits of the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff caldera, without significant discontinuities. The DInSAR data are inverted by considering a finite spheroid and an isotropic point‐source. The inversion results suggest that the new uplift is characterized by a source location similar to the previous small uplift event of 2000 and to the long term subsidence of the 1990's. In particular, the source is located at a depth of about 3.2 km and very close to the city of Pozzuoli (about 800 m offshore, to the SW); the associated volume variation is about 1.1 106 m3/year.