A review of the tectonic, volcanological and hazard history of Vulcano (Aeolian Islands, Italy)

Abstract

Vulcano is one of the seven volcanic islands composing the Aeolian Islands archipelago (Southern Italy), which also includes three other active volcanoes. The island was originally a stratovolcano like Stromboli; afterwards, its shape turned towards a complex structure composed of several volcanic landforms of different sizes. This is due to the great variability of the tectonic and volcanic phenomena, presently showing a volcano made by two calderas, a lava dome complex and two small active cones. The largest of them is the tuff cone of La Fossa, hosted in the middle of a 3‐km‐wide caldera structure (La Fossa caldera), whose borders are visible on the southern and western sides of the island. Its last eruption occurred in 1888–1890. At present, Vulcano is characterized by weak shallow seismicity and intense fumarolic activity mainly concentrated within the crater of the La Fossa cone and along its rims during a recent unrest phase started in 2021, and measured with a multiparametric monitoring network.

Sulfur Impurities: The Overlooked Process in Volcanic Hazard Assessment

“…Nevertheless, fluctuations in several geochemical/physical/geophysical parameters have been reported in the decades following the 1888-1890 eruption. Temperature variations at a main fumarolic field established in 1913 were reported in 1923-1924 and 1937 [85]. In March 1978, high-HCl and -SO 2 fluxes were measured on the main fumarolic field, north of the La Fossa crater [86]; new fumaroles, roughly aligned NW-SE along a major transcurrent fault zone, opened at the end of 1978, which showed an increase in temperatures from 200 to 300 • C [87].…”