Campi Flegrei
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| Campi Flegrei | |
|---|---|
 NASA Space Shuttle photo of Campi Flegrei, with main features labeled. |
|
| Elevation | 458 m (1,503 ft) |
| Location | Italy |
| Coordinates | |
| Type | Caldera |
| Volcanic arc/belt | Campanian volcanic arc |
| Age of rock | 40,000 years |
| Last eruption | 1538 |
Campi Flegrei, also known as the Phlegraean Fields, is a large 13 km (8 mi) wide caldera situated to the west of Naples, Italy. Today most of the area lies underwater, but it includes the town of Pozzuoli and the Solfatara crater, mythological home of the Roman god of fire, Vulcan. It is thought that the caldera was created in two major events. The first occurred about 40,000 years ago, erupting about 200 km³ of magma (500 km³ bulk volume[1]) to produce the Campanian Ignimbrite. Approximately 12,000 years ago another major eruption occurred, forming a smaller caldera inside the main one, centered on the town of Pozzuoli. This event produced the Neopolitan Yellow Tuff, referring to the characteristic yellow rocks there.
The area was known to the Greeks, who had a colony nearby at Cumae.
The caldera, which now is essentially at ground level, is accessible on foot. It contains a large number of fumaroles, from which steam can be seen issuing, and a number of pools of boiling mud. Several subsidiary cones and tuff craters lie within the caldera. One of these craters is filled by Lago d'Averno. In 1538, an eight-day eruption in the area deposited enough material to create a new hill, Monte Nuovo ("new mountain").
Patrick Moore used to cite Campi Flegrei as an example of why the impact craters on the moon must be of volcanic origin, which was thought to be the case until the 1960s.
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