Campi Flegrei
Encyclopedia
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
φλέγος, burning), is a large 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) wide caldera
Caldera
A caldera is a cauldron-like volcanic feature usually formed by the collapse of land following a volcanic eruption, such as the one at Yellowstone National Park in the US. They are sometimes confused with volcanic craters...
situated to the west of Naples
Naples
Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. It was declared a regional park in 2003. Lying mostly underwater, the area comprises 24 craters and volcanic edifices. Hydrothermal activity
Hydrothermal circulation
Hydrothermal circulation in its most general sense is the circulation of hot water; 'hydros' in the Greek meaning water and 'thermos' meaning heat. Hydrothermal circulation occurs most often in the vicinity of sources of heat within the Earth's crust...
can be observed at Lucrino
Lucrinus Lacus
Lucrinus Lacus, or Luctrin Lake is a lake of Campania, southern Italy, about three kilometres to the south of Lake Avernus....
, Agnano
Agnano
Agnano is a volcanic crater in Napoli, Italy, situated northwest of Naples in the Campi Flegrei region. It was popular among both Greeks and Romans, and was famed for its hot springs....
and the town of Pozzuoli
Pozzuoli
Pozzuoli is a city and comune of the province of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean peninsula.-History:Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of Dicaearchia...
. There are also effusive gaseous manifestations in the Solfatara
Solfatara (volcano)
Solfatara is a shallow volcanic crater at Pozzuoli, near Naples, part of the Campi Flegrei volcanic area. It is a dormant volcano, which still emits jets of steam with sulphurous fumes. The name comes from the Latin, Sulpha terra, "land of sulphur", or "sulfur earth"...
crater, which is known as the mythological home of the Roman god of fire, Vulcan. The area also features bradyseism
Bradyseism
Bradyseism is the gradual uplift or descent of part of the Earth's surface caused by the filling or emptying of an underground magma chamber and/or hydrothermal activity, particularly in volcanic calderas...
ic phenomena, which are most evident at the Macellum of Pozzuoli
Macellum of Pozzuoli
The Macellum of Pozzuoli was the macellum or market building of the Roman colony of Puteoli, now known as Pozzuoli. When first excavated in the 18th century, the discovery of a statue of Serapis led to the building being mis-identified as the city's serapeum or Temple of Serapis.A band of borings...
which in the 18th century was mis-identified as a Temple of Serapis, as geologists puzzled over bands of boreholes (Gastrochaenolites
Gastrochaenolites
Gastrochaenolites is a trace fossil formed as a clavate boring in a hard substrate such as a shell, rock or carbonate hardground. The aperture of the boring is narrower than the main chamber and may be circular, oval, or dumb-bell shaped...
) left by marine Lithophaga
Lithophaga
Lithophaga, the date mussels, are a genus of medium-sized marine bivalve molluscs in the family Mytilidae.The shells of species in this genus are long and narrow with parallel sides. The animals bore into stone or coral rock with the help of pallial gland secretions, hence the systematic name...
molluscs on three standing marble columns, showing that the level of the site in relation to sea level had varied.
Geological phases
Three geological phases or periods are recognised and distinguished.- The First Phlegraean Period. It is thought that the eruption of the Archiflegreo volcano occurred about 39.28 ± 0.11 ka. The dating of the Campanian Ignimbrite (CI) eruption to ~37,000 calendar years B.P.Before PresentBefore Present years is a time scale used in archaeology, geology, and other scientific disciplines to specify when events in the past occurred. Because the "present" time changes, standard practice is to use AD 1950 as the origin of the age scale, reflecting the fact that radiocarbon...
draws attention to the coincidence of this volcanic catastrophe and the suite of coeval, Late PleistoceneLate PleistoceneThe Late Pleistocene is a stage of the Pleistocene Epoch. The beginning of the stage is defined by the base of the Eemian interglacial phase before the final glacial episode of the Pleistocene 126,000 ± 5,000 years ago. The end of the stage is defined exactly at 10,000 Carbon-14 years BP...
biocultural changes that occurred within and outside the Mediterranean region. These included the Middle to Upper Paleolithic cultural transition and the replacement of NeanderthalNeanderthalThe Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
populations by anatomically modern Homo sapiens, a subject of sustained debate. No less than 150 km3 of magma were extruded in the CI eruption, the signal of which can be detected in Greenland ice cores. As widespread discontinuities in archaeological sequences are observed at or following the CI event, a significant interference with ongoing human processes in Mediterranean Europe is hypothesized. Abstract (older estimate ~37,000 years ago), erupting about 200 cubic kilometres (48 cu mi) of magma (500 cubic kilometres (120 cu mi) bulk volume) to produce the CampaniaCampaniaCampania is a region in southern Italy. The region has a population of around 5.8 million people, making it the second-most-populous region of Italy; its total area of 13,590 km² makes it the most densely populated region in the country...
n IgnimbriteIgnimbriteAn ignimbrite is the deposit of a pyroclastic density current, or pyroclastic flow, a hot suspension of particles and gases that flows rapidly from a volcano, driven by a greater density than the surrounding atmosphere....
. New research led by Liubov Vitalievna Golovanova and Vladimir Borisovich Doronichev of the ANO Laboratory of Prehistory in St. Petersburg, Russia, supports the hypothesisHypothesisA hypothesis is a proposed explanation for a phenomenon. The term derives from the Greek, ὑποτιθέναι – hypotithenai meaning "to put under" or "to suppose". For a hypothesis to be put forward as a scientific hypothesis, the scientific method requires that one can test it...
that these eruptions drove NeanderthalNeanderthalThe Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
s to extinction and cleared the way for modern humans to thrive in Europe and Asia. The area is characterised by banks of piperno and pipernoid grey tuffTuffTuff is a type of rock consisting of consolidated volcanic ash ejected from vents during a volcanic eruption. Tuff is sometimes called tufa, particularly when used as construction material, although tufa also refers to a quite different rock. Rock that contains greater than 50% tuff is considered...
at Camaldoli hill, like in the northern and western ridge of Mount Cumae; other referable deep products are those found at Mount ProcidaProcidaProcida is one of the Flegrean Islands off the coast of Naples in southern Italy. The island is between Cape Miseno and the island of Ischia. With its tiny satellite island of Vivara, it is a comune of the province of Naples, in the region of Campania. The population is about ten...
, recognizable in the cliffs of its coast.
- The Second Phlegraean Period. Between the 35,000-10,500 years ago, it is characterized by the yellow tuff that constitutes the rests of an immense underwater volcano (having a diameter of ca. 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) and Pozzuoli to its center) Approximately 12,000 years ago the last major eruption occurred, forming a smaller caldera inside the main one, centered on the town of PozzuoliPozzuoliPozzuoli is a city and comune of the province of Naples, in the Italian region of Campania. It is the main city of the Phlegrean peninsula.-History:Pozzuoli began as the Greek colony of Dicaearchia...
. This event produced the Neopolitan yellow tuff, referring to the characteristic yellow rocks there.
- The Third Phlegraean Period. Dated between 8,000 – 500 years ago, it is characterized by white pozzolanaPozzolanaPozzolana, also known as pozzolanic ash , is a fine, sandy volcanic ash. Pozzolanic ash was first discovered and dug in Italy, at Pozzuoli. It was later discovered at a number of other sites as well...
, the material that forms the majority of volcanos in Flegrei Fields. Broadly speaking, it can be said there was an initial activity to the south-west in the zone of BacoliBacoliBacoli is a comune in the Province of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 15 km west of Naples. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 27,402 and an area of 13.3 km².-History:...
and BaiaeBaiaeBaiae , a frazione of the comune of Bacoli) in the Campania region of Italy was a Roman seaside resort on the Bay of Naples. It was said to have been named after Baius, who was supposedly buried there. Baiae was for several hundred years a fashionable resort, especially towards the end of the Roman...
(10.000-8.000 years ago); an intermediate activity in an area centred between Pozzuoli, Spaccata Mountain and AgnanoAgnanoAgnano is a volcanic crater in Napoli, Italy, situated northwest of Naples in the Campi Flegrei region. It was popular among both Greeks and Romans, and was famed for its hot springs....
(8.000-3.900 years ago); and a more recent activity, moved towards the west to form Lake AvernusLake AvernusLake Avernus is a volcanic crater lake located in the Avernus crater in the Campania region of southern Italy, around northwest of Pozzuoli. It is near the volcanic field known as the Campi Flegrei and comprises part of the wider Campanian volcanic arc...
and Monte NuovoMonte NuovoMonte Nuovo is a cinder cone volcano within the Campi Flegrei caldera, near Naples, southern Italy. A series of damaging earthquakes and changes in land elevation preceded its only eruption, which lasted from September 29 to October 6, 1538, when it was formed...
(New Mountain) (3,800–500 years ago).
Volcanic deposit indicating possible eruption dated Ar at 315, 205, 157 and 18.0 kya
The caldera, which now is essentially at ground level, is accessible on foot. It contains a large number of fumarole
Fumarole
A fumarole is an opening in a planet's crust, often in the neighborhood of volcanoes, which emits steam and gases such as carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, hydrochloric acid, and hydrogen sulfide. The steam is created when superheated water turns to steam as its pressure drops when it emerges from...
s, from which steam can be seen issuing, and over 150 pools of boiling mud at last count. Several subsidiary cones and tuff craters lie within the caldera. One of these craters is filled by Lake Avernus. In 1538, an eight-day eruption in the area deposited enough material to create a new hill, Monte Nuovo. It has risen about 2 metres (7 ft) from ground level since 1970. It is a volcano capable of producing VEI
Volcanic Explosivity Index
The Volcanic Explosivity Index was devised by Chris Newhall of the U.S. Geological Survey and Stephen Self at the University of Hawaii in 1982 to provide a relative measure of the explosiveness of volcanic eruptions....
7 eruptions, as large as that of Tambora
Mount Tambora
Mount Tambora is an active stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, on the island of Sumbawa, Indonesia. Sumbawa is flanked both to the north and south by oceanic crust, and Tambora was formed by the active subduction zone beneath it. This raised Mount Tambora as high as , making it...
in 1815. At present, the Campi Flegrei area comprises the Naples districts of Agnano and Fuorigrotta
Fuorigrotta
Fuorigrotta is a western suburb of Naples, southern Italy.-Geography:It lies beyond the Posillipo hill and has been joined to the main body of Naples by two traffic tunnels through that hill since the early 20th century....
, the area of Pozzuoli, Bacoli
Bacoli
Bacoli is a comune in the Province of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 15 km west of Naples. As of 31 December 2004, it had a population of 27,402 and an area of 13.3 km².-History:...
, Mount Procida, Quarto, the Phlegrean Islands (Ischia
Ischia
Ischia is a volcanic island in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It lies at the northern end of the Gulf of Naples, about 30 km from the city of Naples. It is the largest of the Phlegrean Islands. Roughly trapezoidal in shape, it measures around 10 km east to west and 7 km north to south and has...
, Procida
Procida
Procida is one of the Flegrean Islands off the coast of Naples in southern Italy. The island is between Cape Miseno and the island of Ischia. With its tiny satellite island of Vivara, it is a comune of the province of Naples, in the region of Campania. The population is about ten...
and Vivara
Vivara
Vivara is a satellite islet of Procida, one of the three main islands in the Gulf of Naples. -Geography:...
).
Recent inflation of the caldera centre in the vicinity of Pozzuoli may presage an eruptive event within decades.
Wine
Italian wineItalian wine
Italian wine is wine produced in Italy, a country which is home to some of the oldest wine-producing regions in the world. Italy is the world's largest wine producer, responsible for approximately one-fifth of world wine production in 2005. Italian wine is exported largely around the world and has...
, both red and white, under the Campi Flegrei DOC appellation comes from this area. Grapes destined for DOC production must be harvested up to a maximum yield
Yield (wine)
In viticulture, the yield is a measure of the amount of grapes or wine that is produced per unit surface of vineyard, and is therefore a type of crop yield...
of 12 tonnes/hectare
Hectare
The hectare is a metric unit of area defined as 10,000 square metres , and primarily used in the measurement of land. In 1795, when the metric system was introduced, the are was defined as being 100 square metres and the hectare was thus 100 ares or 1/100 km2...
for red grape varieties and 13 tonnes/ha for white grape varieties. The finished wines need to be fermented to a minimum alcohol level of 11.5% for reds and 10.5% for whites. While most Campi Flegrei wines are blends, varietal
Varietal
"Varietal" describes wines made primarily from a single named grape variety, and which typically displays the name of that variety on the wine label. Examples of grape varieties commonly used in varietal wines are Cabernet Sauvignon, Chardonnay and Merlot...
wines can be made from individual varieties provided the variety used comprises at least 90% of the blend and the wine is fermented to at least 12% alcohol for reds and 11% for whites.
Red Campi Flegrei is a blend of 50-70% Piedirosso
Piedirosso
Piedirosso is a red Italian wine grape variety that is planted primarily in the Campania region. The grape is considered a specialty of the region, being used to produce wines for local and tourist consumption. Its name "piedirosso" means "red feet" that reflects the bottom of the vine which used...
, 10-30% Aglianico
Aglianico
Aglianico is a black grape grown in the Basilicata and Campania regions of Italy. The vine originated in Greece and was brought to the south of Italy by Greek settlers. The name may be a corruption of Vitis hellenica, Latin for "Greek vine"...
and/or Sciascinoso and up to 10% of other local (both red and white) grape varieties. The whites are composed of 50-70% Falanghina
Falanghina
Falanghina, also called Falanghina Greco, is a variety of wine grape of Vitis vinifera, used for white wines. It is considered a characterful ancient grape variety which may have provided a basis for the classical Falernian wine...
, 10-30% Biancolella
Biancolella
Biancolella is a white Italian wine grape variety grown primarily in the Campania region of southern Italy. It is a permitted grape in a few Campanian Denominazione di origine controllatas but is used mostly as a blending variety.-Synonyms:...
and/or Coda di Volpe
Coda di Volpe
Coda di Volpe is a white Italian wine grape variety that has been historically grown in the Campania region around the town of Naples. It is often confused with another white Italian wine grape, Emilia, that share many of the same synonyms as Coda di Volpe....
with up to 30% of other local white grape varieties.
Cultural importance
Campi Flegrei has had strategical and cultural importance.- The area was known to the GreeksGreeksThe Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....
, who had a colony nearby at CumaeCumaeCumae is an ancient Greek settlement lying to the northwest of Naples in the Italian region of Campania. Cumae was the first Greek colony on the mainland of Italy , and the seat of the Cumaean Sibyl...
. - The beach of Miliscola, in Bacoli, was the Roman military academy headquarters.
- Lake Avernus was believed to be the entrance to the underworldUnderworldThe Underworld is a region which is thought to be under the surface of the earth in some religions and in mythologies. It could be a place where the souls of the recently departed go, and in some traditions it is identified with Hell or the realm of death...
, and is portrayed as such in the AeneidAeneidThe Aeneid is a Latin epic poem, written by Virgil between 29 and 19 BC, that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Trojan who travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Romans. It is composed of roughly 10,000 lines in dactylic hexameter...
of VirgilVirgilPublius Vergilius Maro, usually called Virgil or Vergil in English , was an ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period. He is known for three major works of Latin literature, the Eclogues , the Georgics, and the epic Aeneid...
. During the civil warCivil warA civil war is a war between organized groups within the same nation state or republic, or, less commonly, between two countries created from a formerly-united nation state....
between Octavian and AntonyAntonyAntony is an English language variant of Anthony. It can refer to:People* Mark Antony, Roman politician and general* Antony Flew, a contemporary British philosopher* Antony Gormley, a contemporary British sculptor...
, Agrippa tried to turn the lake into a military port, the Portus JuliusPortus JuliusPortus Julius was the home port for the Roman western imperial fleet, the classis Misenensis, named for nearby Cape Miseno...
. - Cumae was the first Greek colony on the mainland of Italy (Magna GraeciaMagna GraeciaMagna Græcia is the name of the coastal areas of Southern Italy on the Tarentine Gulf that were extensively colonized by Greek settlers; particularly the Achaean colonies of Tarentum, Crotone, and Sybaris, but also, more loosely, the cities of Cumae and Neapolis to the north...
) and is perhaps most famous as the seat of the Cumaean SibylCumaean SibylThe ageless Cumaean Sibyl was the priestess presiding over the Apollonian oracle at Cumae, a Greek colony located near Naples, Italy.The word sibyl comes from the ancient Greek word sibylla, meaning prophetess. There were many Sibyls in different locations throughout the ancient world...
. - BaiaeBaiaeBaiae , a frazione of the comune of Bacoli) in the Campania region of Italy was a Roman seaside resort on the Bay of Naples. It was said to have been named after Baius, who was supposedly buried there. Baiae was for several hundred years a fashionable resort, especially towards the end of the Roman...
, now lying underwater, was a fashionable coastal resortResortA resort is a place used for relaxation or recreation, attracting visitors for holidays or vacations. Resorts are places, towns or sometimes commercial establishment operated by a single company....
and was the site of summer villas of Julius Caesar, Nero, and Hadrian (who died there). - A Flavian AmphitheatreFlavian Amphitheater (Pozzuoli)The Flavian Amphitheater , located in Pozzuoli, is the third largest Roman amphitheater in Italy. Only the Roman Colosseum and the Capuan Amphitheater are larger. It was likely built by the same architects who previously constructed the Roman Colosseum...
(Amphitheatrum Flavium), the third largest Italian amphitheatreAmphitheatreAn amphitheatre is an open-air venue used for entertainment and performances.There are two similar, but distinct, types of structure for which the word "amphitheatre" is used: Ancient Roman amphitheatres were large central performance spaces surrounded by ascending seating, and were commonly used...
after the ColosseumColosseumThe Colosseum, or the Coliseum, originally the Flavian Amphitheatre , is an elliptical amphitheatre in the centre of the city of Rome, Italy, the largest ever built in the Roman Empire...
and the Capuan Amphitheatre. - The Via Appia passed through the comuneComuneIn Italy, the comune is the basic administrative division, and may be properly approximated in casual speech by the English word township or municipality.-Importance and function:...
of Quarto, entirely built on an extinguished crater. - Europe's youngest mountain, Monte NuovoMonte NuovoMonte Nuovo is a cinder cone volcano within the Campi Flegrei caldera, near Naples, southern Italy. A series of damaging earthquakes and changes in land elevation preceded its only eruption, which lasted from September 29 to October 6, 1538, when it was formed...
is here. The WWF oasis lies beside the enormous Astroni crater. - The tombs of Agrippina the ElderAgrippina the elderVipsania Agrippina or most commonly known as Agrippina Major or Agrippina the Elder was a distinguished and prominent granddaughter of the Emperor Augustus. Agrippina was the wife of the general, statesman Germanicus and a relative to the first Roman Emperors...
and Scipio AfricanusScipio AfricanusPublius Cornelius Scipio Africanus , also known as Scipio Africanus and Scipio the Elder, was a general in the Second Punic War and statesman of the Roman Republic...
are here as well. - At Baiae, a Bacoli district the most ancient hot spring complex was built for the richest Romans. It included the largest ancient dome in the world before the construction of the Roman PantheonPantheon, RomeThe Pantheon ,Rarely Pantheum. This appears in Pliny's Natural History in describing this edifice: Agrippae Pantheum decoravit Diogenes Atheniensis; in columnis templi eius Caryatides probantur inter pauca operum, sicut in fastigio posita signa, sed propter altitudinem loci minus celebrata.from ,...
. - Patrick MoorePatrick MooreSir Patrick Alfred Caldwell-Moore, CBE, FRS, FRAS is a British amateur astronomer who has attained prominent status in astronomy as a writer, researcher, radio commentator and television presenter of the subject, and who is credited as having done more than any other person to raise the profile of...
used to cite Campi Flegrei as an example of why the impact craterImpact craterIn the broadest sense, the term impact crater can be applied to any depression, natural or manmade, resulting from the high velocity impact of a projectile with a larger body...
s on the MoonMoonThe Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
must be of volcanic origin, which was thought to be the case until the 1960s. - A Campanian ignimbriteIgnimbriteAn ignimbrite is the deposit of a pyroclastic density current, or pyroclastic flow, a hot suspension of particles and gases that flows rapidly from a volcano, driven by a greater density than the surrounding atmosphere....
super-eruption around 40,000 years ago has been hypothesised as having contributed to the demise of the NeanderthalNeanderthalThe Neanderthal is an extinct member of the Homo genus known from Pleistocene specimens found in Europe and parts of western and central Asia...
, based on evidence from Mezmaiskaya caveMezmaiskaya caveMezmaiskaya Cave is a cave at 44° 10' N 40° 00' E overlooking the right bank of the Sukhoi Kurdzhips in the southern Russian Republic of Adygea, located in the northwestern foothills of the Caucasus Mountains. Preliminary excavations recovered Mousterian artefacts, dated to about 35,000 B.P. and...
in the Caucasus MountainsCaucasus MountainsThe Caucasus Mountains is a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region .The Caucasus Mountains includes:* the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and* the Lesser Caucasus Mountains....
of southern Russia
Source
This article has been completed with material from :it:Campi Flegrei, WikipediaWikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
in Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
and :es:Campos Flegreos, Wikipedia in Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
.