
Claudio ScarpatiUniversity of Naples Federico II | UNINA · Department of Earth Sciences, Environment and Resources
Claudio Scarpati
PhD
Evaluation of the damage caused by the products of explosive eruptions to buildings and humans
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Introduction
Associate professor of Volcanology. He has been appointed visiting professor of Volcanology at Brigham Young University (USA). Claudio Scarpati's research studies centre around identifying and quantifying the processes involved in explosive volcanism (Vesuvius and Phlegraean Fields). Editor and reviewer of the main volcanological journals he has been an invited lecturer at Paris (2001), Tokyo (2004), USA (2006), Singapore (2010). Scientific consultant for numerous international exhibitions and scientific films.
Additional affiliations
January 2008 - present
January 1983 - present
Education
October 1986 - September 1990
Publications
Publications (101)
The Campanian Ignimbrite eruption (39 ka) was the most powerful eruptive event of the Campi Flegrei caldera (southern Italy). This event coincided with the onset of a cold climatic phase and the Paleolithic transition
from Neanderthals to modern humans. The eruption started with a sustained column that emplaced a widespread pyroclastic fall deposit...
Petrochemical analyses of juvenile samples from twenty stratigraphic sections of the Campanian Ignimbrite medial deposits, located from 30 to 79 km from the vent, are presented here. Sampling has accurately followed a well-defined stratigraphic framework and the new component facies scheme. The Campanian Ignimbrite succession is formed by a basal p...
Adventures in Volcanoland: What Volcanoes Tell Us About the World and Ourselves by Tamsin Mather, 2024. ABACUS books, 368 pages. Hardcover price € 30.79, paperback prize € 13.08, eBook price € 3.99, ISBN: 978-1408714614
Seventeen pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) were produced before, during and after the Plinian phase of the 79 AD eruption of Vesuvius. Their deposits were correlated using the proportions of components together with the recognition of distinctive intercalated regionally traceable fall marker layers, revealing sectoral and distance-dependent vari...
The well-exposed Plinian fall deposit of the 79 AD Vesuvius eruption is herein divided into 12 lithostratigraphic units comprised of 7 units in the white pumice deposit (A) and 5 units in the grey pumice deposit (B). These distinct units are distinguished by significant variations in grain size and the ratio of lithic to juvenile clasts, enabling u...
Book review: Volcanology. Processes, Deposits, Geology and Resources, by Ray Cas, Guido Giordano, John V. Wright, 2024. Springer Textbooks in Earth Sciences, Geography and Environment (STEGE); 1833 pages. Hardcover: price € 160.49, eBook: price € 117.69, ISBN: 978-3-319-66612-9
The 79 AD Vesuvius eruption was characterized by two main phases: a sustained column Plinian phase, which deposited a thick white to grey pumice lapilli fallout deposit, followed by a column collapse phase, which emplaced several pyroclastic density current deposits. These latter are interstratified with five, minor, thin and lithic-rich fallout la...
Large explosive eruptions often generate compositionally zoned ignimbrites that provide evidence for the vertical stratification in the magma chamber and insights on magma withdrawal dynamics. In this regard, an excellent case is represented by the AD 79 eruption of Vesuvius, which consisted of two main phases. A first Plinian phase emplaced widesp...
Review:Pliny and the eruption of Vesuvius, by Pedar W. Foss, 2022. Routledge, 1st edition; 334 pages. Hardback: price £136.00, e-book: price £39.99; ISBN: 978-0415705462.
The AD 79 Vesuvius eruption is characterized by two main phases: a sustained column phase, which deposited a thick white–gray pumice lapilli deposit, followed by a column collapse phase, which emplaced several pyroclastic density currents. Here, we present stratigraphic and volcanological evidence for five lithic-rich lapilli fall layers (D, G1, G3...
Literature data show that the two most widespread Vesuvius 79 AD pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) have been traced over a large area around the volcano throughout the Campanian plain. Here, we present stratigraphic and volcanological evidence for 79 AD PDC deposits on higher elevated areas bordering the Campanian plain. More specifically, a sequ...
Book review: Vesiculation and crystallization of magma: fundamentals of the volcanic eruption pro-cess, by Atsushi Toramaru, 2022. Springer [Advances in Volcanology]; xxxii + 427 pages;hardcover price €149.79, paperback price €149.79; eBookprice €117.69, ISBN 978-981-16-4208-1
A mineralogical, major, LA-ICP-MS trace element mineral chemistry and bulk-rock geochemical study of juvenile samples of the Mercato, Avellino, Pompeii and Pollena eruptions, collected in stratigraphically and volcanologically well-characterized sections of the Somma-Vesuvius stratovolcano (Roman Magmatic Province), along with reference data on the...
The petrological features of scoria samples and enclosed holocrystalline xenoliths from the last ~1000 years of activity of the La Soufrière volcano of St. Vincent (Lesser Antilles) are described in detail here. The products of the investigated prehistoric eruptions (pre-1440, 1440, 1580 CE) are relatively homogeneous basaltic andesites (with a par...
Large ignimbrites are the product of devastating explosive eruptions that have repeatedly impacted climate and life on global scale. The assemblage of vertical and lateral lithofacies variations within an ignimbrite sheet, its internal architecture, may help to determine how the parental pyroclastic current evolves in time and space. The 39 ka Camp...
The city of Pompeii was destroyed and buried during the 79 ce eruption of Vesuvius. According to Pliny the Younger, falling pumice lapilli caused the collapse of many roofs, killing 394 inhabitants, and successive waves of fast pyroclastic currents flattened most of the walls, resulting in at least 650 victims.
The Phlegraean Fields volcanic area has been active in the last 78,000 years. Two large calderas are associated with Plinian‐type activity. Intense uplift of several meters occurred before the last historical eruption (Monte Nuovo, 1538) and in recent times (1970–2 and in 1982–4).
The excavations that have been carried out for over two centuries in the Pompeii area have removed much of the volcanic ash that had buried it following the Vesuvian eruption of 79 AD. Within the scope of this project it has been possible to reconstruct the pyroclastic sequence that emerged discordantly on the terraced buildings that follow the
wes...
A new stratigraphic survey of the pyroclastic deposits blanketing Pompeii ruins shows departures from prior reconstruction of the events that occurred inside the town during the two main phases (pumice fallout and pyroclastic density currents) of the ad 79 Vesuvius eruption. We document the depth and distribution of subaerial erosion surfaces in th...
Active calderas are the major volcanic features of the Earth's. They are associated with large magma reservoirs and are characterized by elevated geothermal gradients. Unrest episodes, often documented through historical times, are not always followed by an eruption; however, every eruption is preceded by unrest. Explosive caldera-forming eruptions...
The products of explosive activity of La Soufrière volcano on the island of St Vincent over the last 1000 years are described. Dates for the different eruptions were determined using information from contemporary accounts, fieldwork and radiocarbon dating. Scoria-flow type pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) dominate the products of both the histor...
Somma‐Vesuvius, located near Naples, produced large explosive eruptions (Plinian) that devastated the territory around the volcano and more frequent weaker explosive and effusive episodes. Villages and towns were destroyed and buried during the Bronze Age, the Roman period (e.g., Pompeii and Herculaneum), and the most recent activity cycle (1631–19...
Pre-caldera (> 22 ka) lateral activity at Somma-Vesuvius is related to scoria- and spatter-cone forming events
of monogenetic or polygenetic nature. A new stratigraphic, sedimentological, textural and lithofacies investigation
was performed on five parasitic cones (Pollena cones, Traianello cone, S. Maria a Castello cone and
the recently found Terz...
Somma-Vesuvius is well known for its large plinian eruptions that destroyed villages and buried land in a wide area around the volcano. Nevertheless, effusive or weakly explosive flank eruptions also occurred forming eccentric cones. This activity poses serious hazard due to their proximity with human activities (villages, farms, roads). Thanks to...
http://www.travelinggeologist.com/2016/06/the-largest-neapolitan-eruption-with-claudio-scarpati/
The proximal Plinian fall deposits of the Campanian Ignimbrite (CI; 38 ky, Fedele et at, 2008) and Pomici di Base (PdB; 18 ky, Bertagnini et al., 1998) have been investigated in order to understand the contribution of each part of the plume to the proximal sedimentation. Following Houghton et at (2004b) we consider three main transport regimes: jet...
A thin, fines-poor, lithic- and crystal-rich layer locally present, from proximal to distal areas, at the base of the pyroclastic density current deposits of the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption (39 ka), sourced from Campi Flegrei (Italy), is interpreted as a ground layer (GL). It has an average lithic and crystal content of 57 and 25 wt%, respectivel...
The Campanian Ignimbrite eruption (39 ka) is the most powerful caldera-forming event vented from Campi Flegrei. The pyroclastic density current (PDC) deposits associated to this plinian, high-magnitude event are mainly known as a widespread welded gray trachytic tuff containing inverse-graded scoria clasts. A new study of the lithological facies of...
A twenty years lasting geo-volcanological survey allowed us to reconstruct the eruptive history of the city of Naples which is part of the active Campi Flegrei (Phlegraean Fields) volcanic field. Naples hills are mainly modelled by volcanic and volcanotectonic processes, partly masked by historical floods that buried the lower part of the city as w...
Distribution of ignimbrites is controlled chiefly by preexisting topography forming thin veneer deposits on steep-slope relief and thicker, valley-ponding deposits in valley bottoms. The calculation of volumes of ignimbrites is difficult because of the nonlinear dependence of thickness with distance. Calculation using geometrical methods are review...
The systematic excavation of the site of Guado San Nicola (Monteroduni, Molise) revealed a stratigraphic sequence, more than two meters thick, located on the distal part of an ancient terraced alluvial cone made by the Lorda creek, a tributary of the Volturno river.
The lithologic, morphographic and pedostratigraphic evidences suggest its attribut...
As a volcanologist who has spent the last twenty years studying Vesuvius and the impact of its historical and prehistoric destructive eruptions on perivolcanic areas and specifically on urban settlements, I was particularly interested in the chapter regarding the relationship between archaeology and geology and the contribution of volcanology to th...
The city of Naples can be considered part of the Campi Flegrei volcanic field, and deposits
within the urban area record many autochthonous pre- to post-caldera eruptions. Age measurements
were carried out using 40Ar–39Ar dating techniques on samples from small monogenetic vents and
more widely distributed tephra layers. The 40Ar–39Ar ages on feldsp...
The AD 472 eruption and its impact on some sites on the slopes of Vesuvius. This contribution provides a multi-disciplinary analysis of the AD 472 eruption of Vesuvius in archaeological contexts. The first section overviews the settlement pattern and the data available on the sites buried by volcanoclastic fill. It further addresses the question of...
Factors influencing the erosive behavior of large pyroclastic density currents (PDCs), both mainly massive and thinly stratified, are not well understood. To investigate the parameters influencing
the erosive behavior of PDCs produced during the flowing phase of large, caldera-forming Plinian (Campanian Ignimbrite) and phreatoplinian (Neapolitan Ye...
The city of POMPEII was destroyed and many of its inhabitants were killed during the catastrophic eruption of Vesuvius in 79 CE. A narrative of this eruption, written by Pliny
the Younger (Ep. 6.16, 6.20) to the historian Tacitus to commemorate his famous uncle
Pliny the Elder, is considered the first volcanological report in human history. Presuma...
The Phlegraean Fields, an active volcanic field located west of the city of NEAPOLIS
(NAPLES), has been the site of numerous eruptions from monogenic volcanoes for the past
70,000 years. Some of these volcanoes are famous from an historical point of view,
including the volcano of CUMAE (KYME) that was the place of the first Greek colony on the
main...
The volcano of Somma-Vesuvius, located near Naples (southern Italy), buried POMPEII and
HERCULANEUM during the 79 CE eruption. It consists of an old stratovolcano, Monte Somma,
that collapsed several times because of huge explosive eruptions, and a recent cone, Vesuvius,
grown inside the summit depression (caldera) after the 79 eruption.
Mount Etna dominates the landscape of northeast Sicily and is the largest continental
volcano in the world: the summit crater reaches the height of about 3300 m above sea level, and
its volcanic products cover an area of around 1750 km2. In Greek and Roman mythology
Etna was famed as the forge of the fire God VOLCANUS and as the prison of the monst...
A granular multiphase model has been used to evaluate the action of differently sized particles on the dynamics of fountains and associated pyroclastic density currents. The model takes into account the overall disequilibrium conditions between a gas phase and several solid phases, each characterized by its own physical properties. The dynamics of...
A granular multiphase model has been used to evaluate the action of differently sized particles on the dynamics of fountains and associated pyroclastic density currents. The model takes into account the overall disequilibrium conditions between a gas phase and several solid phases, each characterized by its own physical properties. The dynamics of...
Export Date: 10 September 2012, Source: Scopus
Dirigente Settore Difesa del Suolo: Giulivo I.
Responsabile del Progetto CARG per la Regione Campania: Monti L.
Aree emerse
Isola di Procida
Coordinatore scientifico: D'Argenio B.
Redazione scientifica: Putignano M.L.
Direttore del rilevamento: Morra V.
Rilevatori: Perrotta A., Scarpati C.
Analisi petrochimiche: Fedele L.
Analisi geocronologiche 40...
The Campi Flegrei hosts numerous monogenetic vents inferred to be younger than the 15ka Neapolitan Yellow Tuff. Sanidine crystals from the three young Campi Flegrei vents of Fondi di Baia, Bacoli and Nisida were dated using 40Ar/39Ar geochronology. These vents, together with several other young edifices, occur roughly along the inner border of the...
A multiphase thermo-fluid dynamic model has been improved to assess the effect of a range of particle size on the transient two dimensional behaviour of large, explosive, and ignimbrite forming eruptions. The model accounts for mechanical and thermal non-equilibrium conditions between a continuous gas phase and several solid phases characterized by...
We integrate the different contemporary sources together with new field data on the
pyroclastic deposits to make a new volcanological reconstruction of the explosive phases of the 1944
Vesuvius eruption. We adopt the four successive phases of the eruption first defined by Imb`o (1945),
who made the most detailed contemporary description of the erup...
Campi Flegrei is a densely populated active volcanic field. Two major explosive volcanic events have led to the formation of nested calderas. Detailed stratigraphy of the volcanic rocks outcropping in part of this area contributes toward a better understanding and definition of the volcanic hazard. Our research activity focuses on the southwestern...
The Vesuvius is the object of a huge amount of literature. Latin philosophers, geographers, historians and poets as Seneca, Tacitus, Vitruvius and Martial have described its fertile slopes and its hidden fury. Later, in the second half of the 17th century, the custom flourished to travel through Italy in search of the roots of our civilization. Thi...
The use of non-invasive geophysical techniques is becoming increasingly important in archaeological site studies as a means to
increase the efficiency of excavation and to thereby avoid unnecessary disturbance. Ground-penetrating radar (GPR) surveys were
performed over an orthogonal grid in order to guide the decision-making process for planning ex...
a site in the town of Pollena Trocchia offers new data for understanding the burying process of the AD 472 eruption and following eruptive events. So far seven rooms of a Roman building have been brought to light, which probably date to the 2nd/3rd century AD.
The building consists of two storeys. The floors and the collapse of peripheral walls are...
The north slope of the Somma-Vesuvius complex is archaeologically still little known. Archaeological and volcanologic field research at a site in the town of Pollena Trocchia offers new data for understanding the burying process of the AD 472 eruption and following eruptive events. So far seven rooms of a Roman building have been brought to light,...
The 1988 discovery of a Roman building in Pollena Trocchia, which Pagano regarded as 2nd-century grain storage facility, deserves significant reconsideration. This article is a composite of several participants on the archaeological site, giving background to the Apolline Project and an update on the 2007 campaign. Each saggio or trench is describe...
40Ar/ 39Ar ages have been measured on the older major explosive eruptions of Somma-Vesuvius volcano in Italy. These eruptions all have pumice fall, and pyroclastic surge and flow deposits. The eruptive history of Somma-Vesuvius volcano has previously been based on uncalibrated 14C ages, mostly on carbon from paleosols, reported by Delibrias and oth...
The Breccia Museo is one of the most debated volcanic formations of the Campi Flegrei volcanic district. The deposit, made
up of six distinctive stratigraphic units, has been interpreted by some as the proximal facies of the major caldera-forming
Campanian Ignimbrite eruption, and by others as the product of several, more recent, independent and lo...
GPR investigations has been collected in Pompeii, in an area of the regio III not yet fully excavated. In this area, as in many other parts of this roman city, large portions of archaeological features are still buried under thick volcanic deposits. The radar survey has been conducted on the top of a long scarp parallel to Nola Street. This site wa...
The Italian volcano, Vesuvius, erupted explosively in AD 79. Sanidine from pumice collected at Casti Amanti in Pompeii and Villa Poppea in Oplontis yielded a weighted-mean 40Ar/39Ar age of 1925±66 years in 2004 (1σ uncertainty) from incremental-heating experiments of eight aliquants of sanidine. This is the calendar age of the eruption. Our results...
This study on terrestrial and marine successions increases the understanding of the Late-Holocene volcanological and stratigraphical evolution of the south-western part of Campi Flegrei caldera.Stratigraphic data derived from field studies of two major tuff vents located along the coastal zone, namely Porto Miseno and Capo Miseno, clearly indicate...
The Campanian Ignimbrite caldera occupies the Campi Flegrei region and part of the city of Naples. The previous caldera boundary throughout the northern periphery of Naples was merely inferred due to the lack of outcrops of proximal deposits associated with the Campanian Ignimbrite. The exact location of this important structural feature within the...
A new archaeological excavation on the northern slope of Vesuvius has provided invaluable information on the eruptive activity and post-eruptive resedimentation events between the late Roman Empire and 1631. A huge Roman villa, thought to belong to the Emperor Augustus, survived the effects of the 79 a.d. Plinian eruption, but was mainly engulfed i...
A new archaeological site of Roman Age has been recently found engulfed in the products of Vesuvius activity at Somma Vesuviana, on the northern flank of the Somma–Vesuvius, 5 km from the vent. A 9 m deep, 30 by 35 m trench has revealed a monumental edifice tentatively attributed to the Emperor Augustus. Different than Pompeii and Herculaneum sites...
The scope of the present work was to test the performance of Ground Penetrating Radar in the volcanic sediments, and to use this technique to investigate the archaeological ruins of one of the most important archaeological and geological sites in the world, Pompeii. The preliminary results demonstrate that the GPR technique is particularly suitable...
A volcanological and geochemical characterization of the products of the Fiumicello eruption is here proposed. The volcanological features of the deposits, representing both a “proximal” and a “distal” facies, suggest that the eruption dynamics were quite similar to those of many other Campi Flegrei events, being characterized by both purely magmat...
The eruption of Vesuvius of 79 AD caused extensive destructions all over the Campanian area, engulfing the cities of Pompei, Herculaneum, Oplonti and Stabiae. The eruption followed a long quiescence period and the inhabitants of the area were surprised by the volcanic events. The first part of the eruption was characterized by a widespread dispersa...
This paper deals with the mineralogical features of the most important and widespread pyroclastic formation of Southern Italy: the Campanian Ignimbrite. This formation is characterized by four stratigraphic units, different in colour and mineralogical composition. The lowermost unit (USAF) is constituted by an incoherent, thin (few tens of cm) sequ...
Large-scale volcanic plumes, either generated by discharge of material directly from a
vent or developed from the top of pyroclastic flows, produce laterally spreading
umbrella-shaped clouds that disperse pyroclastic material over large areas. During
plinian eruptions followed by pyroclastic flows, an enormous quantity of ash particles
produced bot...
The eruption of Vesuvius of 79 AD caused extensive destructions all over the Campanian area, engulfing the
cities of Pompei, Herculaneum, Oplonti and Stabiae. The eruption followed a long quiescence period and the
inhabitants of the area were surprised by the volcanic events. The first part of the eruption was characterized
by a widespread dispersa...
Detailed descriptions of the effects of explosive eruptions on urban settlements available to volcanologists are relatively rare. Apart from disease and starvation, the largest number of human deaths caused by explosive eruptions in the twentieth century are due to pyroclastic flows. The relationship between the number of victims related to a speci...
A quantitative and qualitative evaluation of the damage caused by the products of explosive eruptions to buildings provides an excellent contribution to the understanding of the various eruptive processes during such dramatic events. To this end, the impact of the products of the two main phases (pumice fallout and pyroclastic density currents) of...
The study proposes a model by which a thick succession of volcanic tuffs can be zeolitized by alteration of pyroclastic material
in the presence of sufficient eruptive water and at temperatures close to water vapour condensation. In the case of phreatomagmatic
products, the model simplifies interpretation of problematic deposits that exhibit prono...
Ventotene and S. Stefano islands form part of the southeastern flank of a Pleistocene stratovolcano. The products of 27 eruptions, the majority of which have never been previously identified, comprise the two islands. These products consist chiefly of pyroclastic deposits with only three effusive episodes represented. The youngest and most prominen...
The Breccia Museo Member (BMM) was formed by an explosive eruption that occurred in the SW sector of Campi Flegrei about 20 ka ago. The eruptive sequence consists of the Lower Pumice Flow Unit and the overlying Upper Pumice Flow Unit with its associated lithic Breccia Unit. Interlayered with the Breccia Unit is a welded deposit that mainly consists...
The southwestern part of Naples was the site of small volume volcanic activity prior to 12000 y B.P. Lava domes and possibly a lava flow were erupted during the earliest period. Explosive activity followed and produced pyroclastic sequences that are the proximal deposits of tuff cones within the city and at its southwestern extreme. The explosive a...