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The “Pomici di mercato” Plinian eruption of Somma-Vesuvius: magma chamber processes and eruption dynamics

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Abstract

The Pomici di Mercato (PdM, 8,010 ± 40 a), also known in the literature as Pomici Gemelle or Pomici di Ottaviano, is one of the oldest Plinian eruptions of Somma-Vesuvius. This eruption occurred after the longest (7 ka) quiescence period of the volcano and was followed by more than 4 ka of repose. The erupted magma is phonolitic in composition. All the products have very low phenocrysts content (less than 3%) and show evidence of mineralogical disequilibria. They contain K-feldspar ± clinopyroxene (salite and diopside) ± plagioclase ± garnet ± biotite ± amphibole ± apatite ± Fe-Ti oxides. Pumice fragments collected at different stratigraphic heights are slightly less evolved and more enriched in radiogenic Sr composition upsection. The glass composition is fairly homogeneous in single pumice fragment and among pumice fragments from different layers. Glass separated from pumice fragments collected at different stratigraphic heights is homogeneous in the Sr-isotope composition (around a value of 0.70717). Glass is in isotopic equilibrium with salite throughout the entire sequence and with diopside at the base of the sequence. Diopside becomes more radiogenic upsection, reaching a value of 0.707458 ± 7, whereas feldspar is consistently slightly less radiogenic than glass. Nd-isotope composition is fairly uniform (ca. 0.51247) through the whole sequence. The isotopic disequilibria among glass, feldspar and diopside, together with the homogeneous isotopic composition of pumice glass in equilibrium with salite, and the mineralogical disequilibria between plagioclase and K-feldspar, imply that most of the diopside and plagioclase crystals are xenocrysts incorporated into the phonolitic magma during residence in a magma chamber and/or during ascent towards the surface. The PdM Tephra are compositionally and isotopically similar to the phonolitic, first-erupted products of the subsequent Pomici di Avellino Plinian eruption. On the basis of this similarity, we suggest that the magma feeding both eruptions resulted from the tapping of a unique magma chamber. Prior to the PdM eruption, this chamber was formed by a large and homogeneous phonolitic magma body. After the PdM eruption, as a consequence of new arrivals of more radiogenic in Sr, less-differentiated magma batches, the magma chamber progressively developed a slightly stratified phonolitic uppermost portion, capping a tephriphonolitic layer, both emitted during the subsequent Pomici di Avellino eruption.

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Acknowledgments

This project was carried out within the framework of the EU Research Training Network HPRN-CT-2000–00060, the EU EVG1-CT-2002–00058 ERUPT, the Spanish REN2002–10877-E/RIES project, the 2006BE–00549 fellowship and the INGV-DPC Vesuvius projects. The authors thank Dan Morgan, Raffaello Cioni, two anonymous referees, and Massimo D’Antonio for their scientific support, and Antonio Carandente and Pasquale Belviso from Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia – Sezione di Napoli “Osservatorio Vesuviano” and all the staff of Serveis Cientifico Tecnics of Universitat de Barcelona for their skilled technical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia – Sezione di Napoli - Osservatorio Vesuviano, via Diocleziano 328, 80124, Naples, Italy

    M. Aulinas, L. Civetta, M. A. Di Vito & G. Orsi

  2. Universitat Barcelona, C/ Martí Franquès s/n 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    M. Aulinas & D. Gimeno

  3. Dipt. Science Fisiche, Universitá di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy

    L. Civetta

  4. Institut of Earth Sciences J. Almera, CSIC, C/ Lluís Solé i Sabaris, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    J. L. Férnandez-Turiel

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  1. M. Aulinas
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Correspondence to L. Civetta.

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Aulinas, M., Civetta, L., Di Vito, M.A. et al. The “Pomici di mercato” Plinian eruption of Somma-Vesuvius: magma chamber processes and eruption dynamics. Bull Volcanol 70, 825–840 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00445-007-0172-z

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