Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-4rdpn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-07T23:31:54.276Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The ‘Campi Flegrei Deep Drilling Project’: from Risk Mitigation to Renewable Energy Production

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2011

Giuseppe De Natale*
Affiliation:
INGV-Osservatorio Vesuviano, Via Diocleziano 328, 80124 Naples, Italy. E-mail: [email protected]
Claudia Troise
Affiliation:
INGV-Osservatorio Vesuviano, Via Diocleziano 328, 80124 Naples, Italy. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

Large calderas are the most dangerous volcanoes on the Earth. They are produced by collapse during explosive super-eruptions, which themselves are capable of triggering global catastrophes comparable to giant meteorite impacts. The mechanisms for unrest and eruptions at calderas are, to a large extent, unknown and, as demonstrated by volcanological research in the last few decades, they may be very different from those characterizing more commonly studied stratovolcanoes. The presence of large aquifer systems in these areas, with large magma chambers underneath, put them among the ‘hottest’ areas in the world, which means there is not only risk, but also ideal conditions for converting the exceptional underground heat into clean energy. Campi Flegrei caldera (Italy) represents an ideal natural laboratory to fully understand the mechanisms of caldera dynamics and to develop techniques for eruption forecast and effective risk mitigation. Drilling deep in this area could give precise insight into the processes of eruptions and unrest at this and other similar areas in the world. Furthermore, studying the aquifer systems over the whole depth and exploring higher depths where supercritical fluids are likely to be found, can give a strong impetus to the exploitation of geothermal energy, which is probably now the only clean source – certainly in Italy, but possibly also in the world – able to effectively replace fossil fuels for electricity generation.

Type
Risks, Environment and Sustainable Development – Papers from the 2009 Academia Europaea Meeting in Naples
Copyright
Copyright © Academia Europaea 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Rosi, M. and Sbrana, A. (1987) Phlegraean Fields. Quaderni de ‘La Ricerca Scientifica’, 114 (CNR, Roma), pp. 114–175, in Italian.Google Scholar
2.De Vivo, B., Rolandi, G., Gans, P. B., Calvert, A., Bohrson, W. A., Spera, F. J. and Belkin, H. E. (2001) New constraints on the pyroclastic eruptive history of the Campanian volcanic Plain (Italy). Mineralogy and Petrology, 73(1–3), pp. 4765, DOI 10.1007/s007100170010.Google Scholar
3.Dvorak, J. J. and Mastrolorenzo, G. (1991) The mechanism of recent vertical crustal movements in Campi Flegrei caldera, Southern Italy. Geology Society of America, Special Paper, 263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
4.De Natale, G., Troise, C., Pingue, F., Mastrolorenzo, G., Pappalardo, L., Battaglia, M. and Boschi, E. (2006) The Campi Flegrei caldera: unrest mechanisms and hazards. In: C. Troise, G. De Natale and C. R. J. Kilburn (eds) Mechanisms of Activity and Unrest at Large Calderas (London: Geological Society, Special Publications), 269, pp. 25–45.Google Scholar
5.Battaglia, M., Troise, C., Obrizzo, F., Pingue, F. and De Natale, G. (2006) Evidence for fluid migration as the source of deformation at Campi Flegrei caldera (Italy). Geophysics Research Letters, 33, doi:10.1029/2005GL024904.Google Scholar
6.Lima, A., De Vivo, B., Spera, F. J., Bodnar, R. J., Milia, A., Nunziata, C., Belkin, H. E. and Cannatelli, C. (2009) Thermodynamic model for uplift and deflation episodes (bradyseism) associated with magmatic–hydrothermal activity at the Campi Flegrei (Italy). Earth-Science Reviews, 97(1–4).Google Scholar
7.Hill, D. P., Sorey, M. L., Ellsworth, W. L. and Sass, J. (1998) Scientific drilling continues in Long Valley Caldera, California. Eos, Transactions, American Geophysical Union, 79(36), pp. 429432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
8.Rossano, S., Mastrolorenzo, G. and De Natale, G. (2004) Numerical simulation of pyroclastic density currents on Campi Flegrei topography: a tool for statistical hazard estimation. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 132, pp. 114.Google Scholar
9.Barberi, F., Cassano, E., La Torre, P. and Sbrana, A. (1991) Structural evolution of Campi Flegrei caldera in the light of volcanological and geophysical data. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 48, pp. 3349.Google Scholar
10.Sheridan, M. F. and Wohletz, K. H. (1983) Hydrovolcanism: basic considerations and review. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 17, pp. 129.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11.Morhange, C., Bourcier, M., Laborel, J., Gialanella, C., Goiran, J. P., Crimaco, L. and Vecchi, L. (1999) New data on historical relative sea level movements in Pozzuoli, Phlegraean Fields, Southern Italy. Physics and Chemistry of the Earth (part A), 24, pp. 349354.Google Scholar
12.De Natale, G., Pingue, F., Allard, P. and Zollo, A. (1991) Geophysical and geochemical modeling of the Campi Flegrei caldera. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 48, pp. 199222.Google Scholar
13.Fournier, R. (1999) Hydrothermal processes related to movement of fluid from plastic into brittle rock in the magmatic epithermal environment. Economic Geology, 94, pp. 11931211.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
14.AGIP (1987) Geologia e Geofisica del Sistema Geotermico dei Campi Flegrei. Technical Report (SERG-ESG, San Donato, Italy), pp. 1–23.Google Scholar
15.Bellucci, F., Woo, J., Kilburn, C. R. J. and Rolandi, G. (2006) Ground deformation at Campi Flegrei, Italy: implications for hazard assessment. In: C. Troise, G. De Natale and C. R. J. Kilburn (eds) Mechanisms of Activity and Unrest at Large Calderas (London: Geological Society, Special Publication), 269, pp. 141–157.Google Scholar
16.Gottsmann, J., Rymer, H. and Berrino, G. (2006) Caldera unrest at the Campi Flegrei: a critical evaluation of source parameters from geodetic data inversion. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 150, pp. 132145.Google Scholar
17.Trasatti, E., Casu, F., Giunchi, C., Pepe, S., Solaro, G., Tagliaventi, S., Berardino, P., Manzo, M., Pepe, A., Ricciardi, G. P., Sansosti, E., Tizzani, P., Zeni, G. and Lanari, R. (2008) The 2004–2006 uplift episode at Campi Flegrei caldera (Italy): Constraints from SBAS-DInSAR ENVISAT data and Bayesian source inference. Geophysical Research Letters, 35, L07308, doi:10.1029/2007GL033091.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
18.Judenherc, S. and Zollo, A. (2003) Evidence for the buried rim of Campi Flegrei caldera from 3-D active seismic imaging. Geophysical Research Letters, 30, doi:10.1029/2003GL018173.Google Scholar
19.Vinciguerra, S., Trovato, C., Meredith, P. G., Benson, P. M., Troise, C. and De Natale, G. (2006) Understanding the Seismic Velocity Structure of Campi Flegrei Caldera (Italy): from the laboratory to the field scale. Pure and Applied Geophysics, 163, DOI 10.1007/s00024-006-0118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
20.Kozlovsky, Ye A. (ed.) (1987) The Superdeep Well of the Kola Peninsula (Berlin: Springer Verlag), pp. 1558.Google Scholar
21.USGS Report, 2008; www.usgs.govGoogle Scholar
22.Fridleifsson, G. O. and Elders, W. A. (2005) The Iceland Deep Drilling Project: a search for deep unconventional geothermal resources. Geothermics, 34, pp. 269285.Google Scholar
23.Giardini, D. (2009) Geothermal quake risks must be faced. Nature, 462, pp. 848849, doi:10.1038/462848a Opinion.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
24.Zollo, A., Maercklin, N., Vassallo, M., Dello Iacono, D., Virieux, J. and Gasparini, P. (2008) Seismic reflections reveal a massive melt layer feeding Campi Flegrei caldera. Geophysical Research Letters, 35, doi:10.1029/2008GL034242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
25.WEA (2000) World Energy Assessment: Energy and the Challenge of Sustainability. Prepared by UNDP, UN-DESA and the World Energy Council. (New York: United Nations Development Programme), pp. 1508.Google Scholar