Dynamics and effects of the Vesuvius Pomici di Avellino Plinian eruption and related phenomena on the Bronze Age landscape of Campania region (Southern Italy)
Introduction
Plinian eruptions are among the most dangerous natural phenomena for human life and the environment. They are characterized by very energetic and sustained explosive phases, lasting from hours to days, with intensities not lower than 107−108 kg s−1. These characteristics lead to the formation of convective plumes of stratospheric height, whose instability and collapse can generate pyroclastic density currents (PDC; Cioni et al., 2015). The latter are mixtures of gases and solid particles, which flow downslope under the effect of gravity at high speed and have high temperatures (e.g. Sulpizio et al., 2014). PDCs can completely devastate the areas surrounding a volcano, as far as tens of kilometres from the vent. During the sustained phase of the eruptions, the fallout of pyroclastic particles generates deposits that cover areas of more than 500 km2, reaching distances of hundreds of kilometres from the eruption vent in the direction of the dominant winds (Walker, 1973).
Plinian eruptions are usually accompanied and followed by catastrophic phenomena of reworking of their pyroclastic deposits by the generation of lahars, which are related to a generalized destabilization of the hydrological system due to the huge amount of ash and water vapour introduced into the atmosphere during the eruption (Vallance and Iverson, 2015). The generation of volcanoclastic mass flows can last decades or centuries after a Plinian eruption, threatening both the areas surrounding the volcano and more distant lowlands not directly affected by the eruption and located at the foot of the reliefs downwind of the volcano.
Plinian eruptions are rare events on the scale of human lifetimes, so the reconstruction of their eruptive dynamics is mainly based on the study of deposits of past eruptions. Such studies are particularly important in the case of quiescent volcanoes, whose reactivation and eruptive behaviour are difficult to define in the absence of recurrent activity (Cioni et al., 2003; Marzocchi et al., 2004).
The eruptive history of Vesuvius, in particular, in the past 25 ka is characterized by four Plinian eruptions, separated by very long periods of repose - lasting from centuries to millennia – and periods of effusive and low-energy explosive activity, with shorter recurrence intervals.
Among the Plinian eruptions of Vesuvius, that known as the Pomici di Avellino eruption (PdA; 3945 ± 10 cal yr BP; Passariello et al., 2009; Sevink et al., 2011) is considered one of the most explosive Holocene events in the Mediterranean area (Fig. 1). This eruption (Lirer et al., 1973; Rolandi et al., 1993; Andronico et al., 1995; Cioni et al., 2000; Sulpizio et al., 2010a, 2010b; Sevink et al., 2011) ravaged a wide and densely inhabited area in the Early Bronze Age (Passariello et al., 2009, 2010; Albore Livadie, 1980; Cioni et al., 2000). Its dynamics and the impact on the human settlements have been reconstructed in many papers (Pescatore et al., 1987; Rolandi et al., 1993; Cioni et al., 2000; Mastrolorenzo et al., 2006; Sulpizio et al., 2008, 2010a, 2010b; Di Vito et al., 2009; Di Lorenzo et al., 2013), whereas the study of the characteristics and timing of emplacement of syneruptive and post-eruptive volcanoclastic mass-flow deposits has been only partially addressed (Sulpizio et al., 2006).
In this paper, a critical review of the existing volcanological and archaeological literature and unpublished data has been performed, together with the analysis of new field data, including information on the volcanoclastic mass-flow deposits. This study has been carried out in order to better define the impact of the PdA eruption and the related phenomena on the Early and Middle Bronze Age (EBA; MBA) human settlements of the Campania Region. Moreover, the combined interpretation of all the available data allows us to develop well constrained hypotheses on the dynamics of abandonment and repopulation of the areas variably affected by these events.
Section snippets
Methods
In the past two decades, combined volcanological and archaeological studies carried out through stratigraphic excavation have been very fruitful. These studies, most of them carried out in the Neapolitan volcanic area, produced many scientific papers that shed light on the complex relations between human settlements, environmental evolution and exploitation, and natural hazards since Neolithic times (Di Vito et al., 2009; Sulpizio et al., 2010a, 2010b; Castaldo et al., 2011; Di Lorenzo et al.,
The Campanian landscape
Campania is a region distinguished by a marked geological and morphological difference between the eastern part, largely mountainous or hilly, and the western side, which is mainly flat. The eastern region includes the Apennine chain; the western region, which occupies the coastal strip, is made up of two flat areas, the Campanian Plain and the Sele Plain, separated by the Sorrento Peninsula (Fig. 1).
The contrast within this region is accentuated by the presence of a series of Quaternary
The different types of effect caused by fallout deposits and PDCs during Plinian eruptions
The emplacement of pyroclastic material produced during an eruption significantly affects areas both near the volcano and at considerable distances (e.g. Blong, 1984). In the case of fallout deposits, these effects are due to the tephra accumulation on the ground via its weight, deposition temperature and interaction with the soil. Structures, infrastructures and vegetation can be significantly damaged by ash accumulations of only a few millimetres (Spence et al., 2005). Both social and
The eruption's effect on proximal and distal EBA settlements (Palma Campania facies): observations and interpretations
It is plausible that the effects of an eruption tend to decrease as the distance from the volcano increases. However, it is appropriate to ascertain how such a difference in destructive effect actually affected populated areas - and particularly inhabited and cultivated fields - in relation to the distance and the deposition mechanism.
In the following sections 5.1 Nola, Croce di Papa, 5.2 Badagnano, Afragola, 5.3 Pioppi, Pratola Serra, 5.4 La Starza, Ariano Irpino, 5.5 The effect of the
The role of climate
The Bronze Age in the Mediterranean falls partly within one of the so-called periods of Rapid Climatic Changes (RCC) defined by Mayewski et al. (2004), between ca. 4.2 and 3.8 ka. Most of the RCC have been considered as characterized by polar cooling, tropical aridity, and major atmospheric circulation changes, which can also correspond to drier conditions over much of peninsular Italy (Giraudi, 2011; Drysdale et al., 2006; Magny et al., 2013; Zanchetta et al., 2013, 2014; 2016). This
Concluding remarks
Based on what has been discussed so far, it is appropriate to make some interpretations on the effects of the eruption on the territory and on the population of the area. As mentioned above, in the period prior to the eruption, all of Campania seems to have been more or less densely occupied by Palma Campania facies settlements (Fig. 2). If we compare the settlement distribution of this facies with that of the following Protoapennine (Fig. 3), an interesting phenomenon is apparent. Although
Acknowledgments
The presented study has benefited from the financial support of the Presidenza del Consiglio dei Ministri – Dipartimento della Protezione Civile DPC-INGV project Ob. 4 task 1; the authors remain responsible for the contents, which therefore do not necessarily reflect the position and official policies of the Department. The authors are grateful to the Archaeological Superintendences of Campania for allowing the access to archaeological sites. Jim Bishop is warmly thanked for the fruitful
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2023, Journal of Archaeological Science: ReportsCitation Excerpt :The eruption generated a sequence of alternating coarse and fine loose pyroclastic deposits that covered both the volcanic edifice and areas located downwind to the east of the volcano, including part of the Apennine chain and valleys. The high topographic gradient and intense rainfall over both the volcanic edifices and the Apennines resulted in the large-scale remobilization of these loose pyroclastic deposits with the widespread generation of floods, debris flows and lahars (Rosi et al., 1993; Zanchetta et al., 2004; Di Vito et al., 2013,2019). These widely impacted the northern and eastern territory around the volcano during and after the deposition of the complex sequence of pyroclastic fallout and pyroclastic density current deposits, significantly modifying the plain's preexisting paleogeography and markedly transforming the agricultural and urban landscape.
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2022, Quaternary Science ReviewsCitation Excerpt :The complex interplay among eustatic, isostatic and volcano-tectonic components significantly affected the late Quaternary RSL evolution in the mid-Tyrrhenian coastal area, as highlighted by the significant variability observed in both the late Pleistocene and the Holocene RSL data. The new database significantly improved the previous compilations in this Mediterranean sector (e.g., Ferranti et al., 2006; Lambeck et al., 2011; Vacchi et al., 2016) offering the possibility to better quantify the magnitude of VGMs within and around the most important European Vulcanic area (Di Vito et al., 2016, 2019; Aucelli et al., 2019; Mattei et al., 2020; Vacchi et al., 2020). The comparison between the RSL records and the suite of geophysical predictions (see Methods) shows that major departures from the isostatic predictions are restricted to those areas lying within the volcanic areas (sectors 3 and 6) and their closest peripheries (sectors 4 and 5).
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2020, Quaternary Research (United States)