Short-term ground deformations and seismicity in the resurgent Campi Flegrei caldera (Italy): an example of active block-resurgence in a densely populated area

Abstract

The Campi Flegrei caldera is a complex structure in which resurgence occurs through a simple shearing mechanism. The most uplifted block inside the caldera is the La Starza block. The caldera has shown signs of unrest since 1969 with two bradyseismic events which generated a net vertical ground displacement of 3.5 m around the town of Pozzuoli. The first event occurred between 1969 and 1972, when the ground was uplifted of 1.74 m, while the second took place between 1982 and 1984 and produced a vertical displacement of 1.79 m. These events have been followed by subsidence with small uplifts of few centimeters. Uplifting events, despite the amount of ground displacement, are always accompanied by seismicity which is absent during subsidence. We have performed an analysis of the ground deformation and seismic data collected since 1970. The results obtained on the two independent sets of data are very much concordant. The ground deformation is not quasi bell-shaped as previously suggested, instead its geometry is strongly constrained by structural discontinuities. Seismicity is confined in a rectangular area, NE–SW elongated and centered on the La Starza block. The margins of this area are marked by earthquakes whose hypocenters describe vertical planes which reach depths of about 5 km. The hypocenters of the earthquakes located in the La Starza block are shallower than 3 km. Focal mechanisms of the earthquakes whose hypocenters describe a NNW–SSE fault plane in the Pozzuoli bay show reverse fault solutions, while those of the earthquakes located on the opposite side of the La Starza block show normal fault solutions. All these data well constraints the hypothesis that resurgence occurs through a simple shearing mechanism (Orsi et al., 1996). We have also performed a finite elements modeling of the ground deformation data. This modeling shows that the detected deformation can be accounted for by an overpressure of 75 MPa in a source with a radius of 1 km, located at 5 km depth in a medium characterized by the detected structural discontinuities.