4th International workshop on collapse Calderas

What is the Workshop on Collapse Calderas?

The IAVCEI Commission on Collapse Calderas (CCC) was created in March 2008 to have a wider and deeper understanding on calderas. The idea to file for a commission emerged in 2005, during a workshop on Caldera Volcanism, at which the Collapse Calderas Work Group was formed. The CCC includes a wide spectrum of disciplines, such as caldera geology, geophysics, mathematical and analogue modelling, subcaldera magma chamber processes, volcanic hazard and risk management, economic benefits and environmental research. Thus, it promotes interdisciplinary interaction to help solve the many questions regarding the formation of collapse calderas, their evolution, and affect on society.

Successful workshops are organized on regular basis, and have been previously held at Tenerife, Canarias, (2005), Mexican Volcanic Belt (2008) and Reunion Island (2010).

Workshop outline

The workshop, consistently with the previous meetings, will be devoted at understanding the different aspects related to calderas, including their structure and development, the erupted products and eruptive history, the magmatic processes, the geophysical and geochemical signature, the mathematical and analogue models, as well as the related economic and environmental research.

In addition, in this workshop particular emphasis will be given at understanding caldera unrest. An increasing amount of geodetic and monitoring data worldwide indicates that a significant part of calderas undergo unrest, with surface displacements, seismicity and degassing induced by the magmatic and/or hydrothermal system. However, most of these unrests do not result in eruptions. Understanding caldera unrest, as well as its possible relations with volcanic activity, is therefore crucial for any hazard evaluation. To this aim, geodetic and monitoring studies of active calderas are particularly encouraged.

The workshop will consist of 2 full days of scientific meeting (September 24 and 25), with oral and poster sessions, and 3 days of field trip (September 26, 27 and 28) at Bolsena, Latera and Vico calderas. The field trips foresee the participation of some of the most distinguished Italian volcanologists who have been working in the area, including Bruno Capaccioni, Raffaello Cioni, Donatella de Rita, Mario Gaeta, Guido Giordano, Patrizia Landi, Giovanni Nappi, Danilo Palladino, Alberto Renzulli, Mauro Rosi, Raffaello Trigila and Luigina Vezzoli.
Thematic informal discussions are planned in the evenings.