Phlegraean Fields, Campania. Eruption of the Campanian Ignimbrite. The Campanian Ignimbrite is the product of the largest explosive eruption in the Mediterranean region in the last 200,000 years. This eruption, which occurred in a center located in the Phlegraean Fields, buried much of Campania under a thick layer of tuff. During the eruption, a caldera formed, causing the subsidence of a vast area including the Phlegraean Fields, part of the city of Naples, and parts of the bays of Naples and Pozzuoli. Clear signs of this eruption are found as far away as Russia and the Caucasus. In Romania, it deposited a full meter of ash. The eruption began with an explosive phreatomagmatic phase, opening the conduit, followed by a Plinian phase, with the formation of an eruption column up to 44 km high, during which the magma present in the reservoir or magma chamber was extracted. The eruption had explosive phases during which enormous flows of pumice and ash formed. Driven by the gases, they slid across the ground and spread as far as the Apennines, crossing mountains over 1,000 meters high. Over time, these products compacted into a light, resistant rock known as Grey Tuff, or more properly, Campanian Ignimbrite. At the end of this eruption, two-thirds of Campania was covered by a layer of tuff up to 100 meters thick, while enormous volumes of volcanic ash were suspended in the atmosphere, causing climate upheavals across the planet. The volume of magma emitted during the eruption is estimated at approximately 150 km3, corresponding to the collapsed volume of the caldera floor, with a sinking of approximately 600 meters.
