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Assessing the history, dynamics and magnitude of pre-historic explosive volcanic eruptions relies heavily on the completeness of the stratigraphic records, the spatial distribution, and the sedimentological features of the pyroclastic deposits. Near-vent volcanic successions provide fundamental but often patchy information, both in terms of record completeness (e.g., scarce accessibility to the older deposits) and of the spatial variability of the sedimentological features. Hence, medial to distal sections increasingly represent essential integrative records.Campi Flegrei (CF) is among the most productive volcanoes of the Mediterranean area, with a volcanic history comprised of well-known caldera-forming eruptions (e.g., Campanian Ignimbrite, CI, ~40 ka; Neapolitan Yellow Tuff, NYT, ~14 ka). Furthermore, recent studies correlated a well-known widespread distal ash layer, the so-called Y-3, with a poorly exposed proximal CF pyroclastic unit (Masseria del Monte Tuff, 29ka), allowing a re-assessment of the magnitude of this eruption, now recognized as a third large-magnitude (VEI 6) eruption at CF. The discovery of this large eruption reduces drastically the recurrence intervals of large-magnitude events at CF and has major implications for volcanic hazard assessment.While the most powerful Late Pleistocene (e.g., post-NYT and partially post-CI) eruptions at CF have been the subject of extensive investigations, less is known about its earliest activity. Motivated by this knowledge gap, we have reviewed the research on Middle-Late Pleistocene eruptions from the CF (~160-90 ka) in light of new compositional (EMPA + LA-ICP-MS), grain-size distribution (dry/wet sieving and laser) and morphoscopy (SEM) data of tephra layers from proximal and distal settings, including inland and offshore records. Our study provides a long-term overview and cornerstone that will help provide future eruptive scenarios, essential for the quantification of recurrence times of explosive activity and in volcanic hazard assessment in the Neapolitan area. This overview sets the basis for modelling dispersion as well as eruptive dynamics parameters of pre-CI large-magnitude eruptions, needed to better understand the behavior of the CF caldera with a long-term perspective.

This chapter offers an overview of Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) and Electron Microanalysis fundamentals using Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS) and Wavelength Dispersive Spectroscopy (WDS). The main technical features and steps necessary to acquire high-resolution images and obtain reliable chemical analytical results are here briefy summarized. The chapter also describes the main advantages of using this non-destructive technique for forensic geosciences applications, with a particular focus on Automated Mineralogy (AM). This analytical technique expands the potentiality of modern SEM systems, allowing a rapid achievement of mineral classifcation and modal composition of grain mixtures. Finally, we present real case studies on applying SEM-EDS, WDS, and AM techniques to several felds of forensic geology. Signifcant examples will include studies on prediction of soil provenance, fngerprinting of airborne asbestos, and comparison between soils and sediment samples to test an association between a soil residue found at a crime scene and relevant items for investigation.

The fruition and protection of natural heritage to restore cultural identity and promote the regeneration of a marginal urban area fully comply with the targets of sustainable development. With this in mind, we propose a cultural trail in the outskirts of the metropolitan area of Naples, which includes a feld tour with several stops outstanding for geological and landscape value and a virtual tour of an ancient underground quarry, from which piperno, a unique pyroclastic rock, was exploited in the past centuries. The educational purpose of the tour is twofold. On the one hand, it leads people to achieve a better understanding of the geological features of the Campi Flegrei territory, which is essential to raise the awareness of the potential hazards it poses and to improve the resilience of those communities. On the other hand, the tour should provide a signifcant opportunity to get in touch with archeologic and historic remnants worthy of preservation, which help develop a sense of belonging to places. Visitors can also enjoy green spaces in an urban area, observe plant species typical of the Mediterranean environment, and, in the process, learn how the regeneration of semi-abandoned areas with endemic vegetation can help reduce the negative consequences of land degradation exacerbated by climate change. The geotrail fruition can improve well-being and strengthen the relationship between people and territory and, as a fnal spillover, create new low-impact income-producing activities. All these outcomes add up in supporting sustainable development in a marginal urban area, where liveability is made much more difcult by the impending volcanic risk.

In the last years, metropolitan areas are more and more exposed to natural risks often intensified by the effects of climatic changes. Clear and complete information about hazards impending on the territory is indispensable for local authorities to define efficient territorial management strategies focused on the risk reduction. A flexible hazard tool which works at different scale and with several sources of hazard is here proposed. We drew maps of monothematic and synthetic indices to describe the hazard status of metropolitan areas. A hazard hotspot map was also elaborated to identify both the areas with high hazard for the single dangerous event and the areas characterized by the concomitance of several hazards. We computed hazard indices for Napoli and Pozzuoli, a densely populated area, located in the Somma-Vesuvio and Campi Flegrei multi-source volcanic zone and also exposed to landslide, flood and coastal erosion hazard.

We studied the Gioia Sannitica active normal fault (GF) along the southern Matese fault (SMF) system in the southern Apennines of Italy in detail. The current activity of the fault system and its potential to produce strong earthquakes have been underestimated so far and are now defined here. Precise mapping of the GF fault trace on a 1:20 000 geological map and point and line data on the geometry, kinematics, and slip rate of the faults forming the SMF system are made available in electronic format. The GF, and the entire fault system along the southern Matese mountain front in general, is made of slowly slipping faults with a long active history revealed by the large geologic offsets, mature geomorphology, and complex fault patterns and kinematics. Present activity has resulted in late Quaternary fault scarps resurrecting the foot of the mountain front and Holocene surface faulting. The resurrected mountain front indicates variation in slip rate through time. The slip rate varies along-strike, with a maximum Upper Pleistocene–Holocene slip rate of ∼ 0.5 mm yr−1. Activation of the 11.5 km long GF can produce up to M 6.2 earthquakes. If activated together with the 18.5 km long Ailano–Piedimonte Matese fault (APMF), the seismogenic potential would be M 6.8. The slip history of the two faults is compatible with a contemporaneous rupture. The observed Holocene displacements on the GF and APMF are compatible with activations during some poorly constrained historical earthquakes, such as the 1293 (M 5.8), 1349 (M 6.8; possibly a southern prolongation of the rupture on the Aquae Iuliae fault), and 346 CE earthquakes. A fault rupture during the poorly constrained 847 CE earthquake is also chronologically compatible with the dated displacements.

A tephrochronological investigation was carried out at site ND14Q (1013 m of water depth), located in the southern Adriatic Sea, offshore the Gargano promontory. It was drilled in the frame of The NextData Project (www.nextdataproject.it, 2011-2013), focused on paleoclimate research. To obtain a composite and well preserved deep marine record, three cores were raised at the study site. Twelve primary cryptotephra and one tephra were analysed in terms of major-element content and correlated with a total of sixteen eruptive events. The studied materials display K-alkaline and subalkaline features pointing to a correlation with the Somma-Vesuvius, Campi Flegrei and Lipari Island (Aeolian Arc) volcanic activity occurred during the Late Pleistocene-Holocene. In detail, major marker tephra of the central Mediterranean have been recognized, among which the Phlegraean Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (ca. 15 ka), Pomici Principali (ca. 12 ka BP) and Astroni-Agnano-Monte Spina (ca. 4.2 ka - 4.4 ka BP) eruptions and, for the first time in this area, the Vesuvian 79 CE event. The very well preserved Mercato (ca. 9 ka BP) and Fiumebianco-Gabellotto (ca. 8.4 ka BP) cryptotephra have also been found in the sapropel S1 interval of the succession, which definitely records the last ca. 22 kyr (Pomici di Base tephra). A number of other Plinian and sub-Plinian events also occur and the availability of multiple cores provided new insights into their temporal relation such as between AP2 and Astroni 6 eruptions. The identification of tephra sourced by well-dated volcanic events, along with several AMS 14C age results, allowed an accurate chronological framework for the composite tephrostratigraphic record, thus providing accurate ages for those deposits with an uncertain correlative event. In addition, stratigraphic evidences in the core replicates at ND14Q site showed that several intervening factors affect preservation and traceability of cryptotephra deposits in the marine realm posing main critical issues on volcanological and paleoclimate research.

International audience; The Fucino Basin, central Italy, with its long and continuous history of Quaternary sediment accumulation, is one of the richest Mediterranean Middle Pleistocene tephra records. Here, we present a new detailed investigation of tephra layers (tephras) of the 250-170 thousand years before present (ka) interval, corresponding to the entire Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 7 and parts of the MIS 8 and MIS 6. The investigated tephras have been characterised in terms of major, minor and trace elements, Sr-Nd isotopic compositions and 40Ar/39Ar ages. For correlation purposes, glass compositions and several new 40Ar/39Ar ages of selected proximal pyroclastic units spanning the same temporal interval from Vulsini (Latera Volcanic Complex), Sabatini, and Vico volcanic systems, central Italy, were measured. The late MIS 8-early MIS 6 Fucino tephras were backtracked to their corresponding volcanic sources, which include the Vulsini, Vico, Sabatini, Roccamonfina, Ischia and Campi Flegrei volcanic systems. While some of these tephras have been correlated to specific eruption units, other layers are currently not documented or described in near-vent sections, thus highlighting previously unrecognised events generated by these volcanic systems. Furthermore, the new high precision 40Ar/39Ar ages provide improved temporal constraints for Fucino making it one of the most detailed and chronologically best constrained tephra records for central Mediterranean MIS 7 tephrochronology. The Fucino record thus provides new integrative information for reconstructing the explosive history of Italian volcanoes during the investigated time interval. Furthermore, the geochronological constraints provide the basis for future paleoclimatic investigations at local and regional scale.

Somma-Vesuvius is one of the most dangerous active Italian volcanoes, due to the explosive character of its activity and because it is surrounded by an intensely urbanized area. For mitigating the volcanic risks, it is important to define how the Somma-Vesuvius magmatic system worked during the past activity and what processes took place. A continuous coring borehole drilled at Camaldoli della Torre, along the southern slopes of Somma-Vesuvius, allowed reconstructing its volcanic and magmatic history in a previous study. In this work, the wide range of chemical (Mg# = 92–69) and isotopic (87Sr/86Sr = 0.70781–0.70681) compositions, collected on single clinopyroxene crystals separated from selected lava flow units of the Camaldoli della Torre sequence, have been integrated with the already available bulk geochemical and Sr-isotopic data. The detected chemical and isotopic signatures and their variation through time allow us to better constrain the behavior of the volcano magmatic feeding system, highlighting that mixing and/or assimilation processes occurred before a significant change in the eruptive dynamics at Somma-Vesuvius during a period of polycyclic caldera formation, starting with the Pomici di Base Plinian eruption (ca. 22 ka).

We studied in detail the Gioia Sannitica active normal fault (GF) along the Southern Matese Fault system in the southern Apennines of Italy. The current activity of the fault system and its potential to produce strong earthquakes have been underestimated so far, and are now defined. Precise mapping of the GF fault trace on a 1 : 20,000 geological map and several point data on geometry, kinematics and throw rate are made available in electronic format. The GF, and in general the entire fault system along the southern Matese mountain front, is made of slowly-slipping faults, with a long active history revealed by the large geologic offsets, mature geomorphology, and complex fault pattern and kinematics. Present activity has resulted in Late Quaternary fault scarps resurrecting the foot of the mountain front, and Holocene surface faulting. The slip rate varies along-strike, with maximum Late Pleistocene – Holocene throw rate of ~0.5 mm/yr. Activation of the 11.5 km-long GF can produce up to M 6.1 earthquakes. If activated together with the 18 km-long Ailano-Piedimonte Matese fault (APMF), the seismogenic potential would be M 6.8. The slip history of the two faults is compatible with a contemporaneous rupture. The observed Holocene displacements on the GF and APMF are compatible with activations during some poorly known historical earthquakes, such as the 1293 (M 5.8), 1349 (M 6.8; southern prolongation of the rupture on the Aquae Iuliae fault?) and CE 346 earthquakes. A fault rupture during the 847 poorly-constrained historical earthquake is also compatible with the dated displacements.

The dissemination of resilience concept to citizens, politicians, entrepreneurs, territorial planners is the first and most important step to shelter urbanized areas from natural hazards.In this frame we propose a procedure to draw resilience maps as tools to facilitate the communication of inherent resilience status of cities. The core of the research is the assessment of this status for the environmental component that deeply influences the livability and development of urban systems. The procedure, implemented in a Geographic Information System framework named “Resilience and Disaster Risk Management”, defines and maps indices and indicators at the census district scale. It considers the different nature of data (attribute data, urban system components represented with primitive features, polygon, line and point) and for each of them indicates the necessary steps to draw the resilience indicator maps. Through their ranking into the same number of classes, the procedure makes the indicators fully comparable to each other and allows the definition of indices as aggregation of indicators.The procedure was tested at Ischia Island (Southern Italy) exposed to volcanic, seismic, landslide, flood and coastal erosion hazards. The spatial variability of environmental resilience is shown into several maps that discretize the island into high, medium and low resilience classes.From our analysis emerged that the historic centers of the towns, in general show the lower resilience, mostly due to poor quality and age of buildings. The lack of building surplus acts negatively on resilience making it difficult to redraw the urban structure during the preparedness phases, when several interventions could be carried out with the aim of lowering the number of people to put in safe from a possible disaster. Our analysis brought also to the consideration that the distribution of green areas on the island results unable to counterbalance the negative effects of urbanization and enhance the environmental resilience. In as much, no official program of fruition of green areas currently involves Ischia Island, although many geovolcanological and naturalistic valuables would deserve promotion and conservation, contributing to enhance the capability of the territory to cope with adverse events.The mapping procedure can be applied to larger areas at risk keeping the censual districts as the minimum territorial reference units or using municipal, regional or national administrative units. The expected integration of resilience assessment in territorial planning (e.g. Regional Territorial Plan, Provincial Territorial Plan, and Municipality Territorial Plan) could greatly benefit from the outcomes of the present research for overcoming sectoral approaches in territorial management.

In our original paper (Buono et al., 2020), we investigated the dynamics of degassing (e.g., bubble nucleation and growth, degassing styles and regimes) of H2O-, CO2- and H2O-CO2-rich evolved alkaline melts over a wide range of variables (final pressures, decompression rates, volatile compositions and contents, temperatures) through a comprehensive review of previous and new HP (high pressure)-HT (high temperature) decompression experiments. The criticism of Allabar and Nowak regards a restricted part of our results, i.e., those concerning homogeneous bubble nucleation from our new experiments on H2O-rich melts. Their aim is refusing the classical nucleation theory (CNT), widely accepted in literature to explain homogeneous bubble nucleation in magmas, for evolved alkaline melts in favour of the spinodal decomposition. We found that the Authors of the Comment do not provide any new evidence in support of their thesis, but they keep only arbitrary and erroneous conjectures of our new experimental data. As we stated in our original paper, the evaluation of the specific bubble nucleation mechanism (CNT vs. spinodal decomposition) is beyond the scope of our research, as appropriate studies on both experimental and natural products would be necessary to shed light on this complex issue.

The complex urban geology of the historic center of Naples is characterized by the emplacement of products from two adjoining volcanic areas that were reworked by alluvial and coastal processes. To expand the geologic knowledge of this densely populated area, multidisciplinary research was carried out on the recently drilled San Marcellino borehole, as part of a larger borehole collection project. Critical revision of 290 previously drilled sequences, and a complete set of tephrostratigraphic, sedimentologic, and paleoecologic data obtained on the San Marcellino stratigraphy, informed a hydrogeological conceptual model of water circulation and paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the city historic center. Both before and after the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff eruption, ca. 15 ka, the landscape was characterized by a marine to transitional paleoenvironment. This signifies a good balance between sea-level rise and volcaniclastic inputs, consisting of both primary and remobilized deposits in an area that is also subject to bradyseismic oscillations. Amongst the primary pyroclastic deposits, the products of an explosive event from Campi Flegrei about 16 ka, with an eastward-directed sustained-column phase, were recognized. Collectively, the multidisciplinary data obtained in this study favor the presence of a double-aquifer conceptual model, characterized by a volcanic and a marine-sedimentary aquifer.

A multidisciplinary study, based on integration of eco-biostratigraphy and tephrostratigraphy, was applied to the sedimentary record of core CET2, recovered in a bathyal area of the Eastern Tyrrhenian Sea, along the Campania Continental Margin. An event stratigraphy of the Late Pleistocene–Holocene succession was obtained, also through the integration of the results coming from the study of the nearby CET1 core. A very detailed integrated stratigraphic framework was reconstructed for the last 40-ka time span, basing on the planktonic foraminifera eco-biozones and correlations of tephra layers. In the time interval older than 40 ka, the relationship between climatic events and tephra layers were highlighted. Some reworked intervals were identified at different stratigraphic levels; the thickest among these was identified just below the Campanian Ignimbrite tephra and interpreted as a debris flow. This deposit is here considered as the stratigraphic signature of the volcano-tectonic event of the Campanian Ignimbrite eruption. Other mass-transport deposits were identified below tephra layers related to very energetic eruptions, thus suggesting a possible link between the huge volcanic explosive eruptions of the Campania Volcanic Zone, coeval fault activity and the occurrence of mass-transport events in the study area.

The prehistoric (< 7 ka) Zaro eruption at Ischia island (Southern Italy) produced a lava complex overlaying a pyroclastic deposit. Although being of low energy, the Zaro eruption might have caused casualties among the neolithic population that inhabited that area of Ischia, and damages to their settlements. A similar eruption at Ischia with its present-day population would turn into a disaster. Therefore, understanding the magmatic processes that triggered the Zaro eruption would be important for volcanic hazard assessment and risk mitigation, so as to improve a knowledge that can be applied to other active volcanic areas worldwide. The main Zaro lava body is trachyte and hosts abundant mafic and felsic enclaves. Here all juvenile facies have been fully characterized from petrographic, geochemical and isotopic viewpoints. The whole dataset (major and trace element contents; Sr-Nd isotopic composition) leads to rule out a genetic link by fractional crystallization among the variable facies. Thus, we suggest that the Zaro mafic enclaves could represent a deep-origin mafic magma that mingled/mixed with the main trachytic one residing in the Ischia shallow magmatic system. The intrusion of such a mafic magma into a shallow reservoir filled by partly crystallized, evolved magma could have destabilized the magmatic system presumably acting as a rapid eruption trigger. The resulting processes of convection, mixing and rejuvenation have possibly played an important role in pre- and syn-eruptive phases also in several eruptions of different sizes in the Neapolitan area and elsewhere in the world., The authors are grateful to Roberto de Gennaro for his precious help in obtaining SEM-EDS-WDS data. This study was carried out in the framework of the GEOPAM Research Group (AGAUR, Generalitat de Catalunya, Ref. 2017 SGR 1494). We acknowledge the technical support of M. Rejas of ICTJA-CSIC Laboratory of Geochemistry labGEOTOP, infrastructure co-funded with resources from the ERDF, European Union, (CSIC08-4E-001, and partner of Project EPOS Implementation Phase, EPOS IP, Grant Agreement no. 676564-EPOS IP Call H2020-IFRADEV-12015-1). The INGV, OV laboratories have been financially supported by the EPOS Research Infrastructure through the contribution of the Italian Ministry of University and Research (MUR). Reviews by Prof. Dr. Gerhard Franz, as well as comments and suggestions by the Editor, greatly contributed to the improvement of the original manuscript and are kindly acknowledged. Funding Open access funding provided by Università degli Studi di Napoli Federico II within the CRUI-CARE Agreement

The 56 ka Monte Epomeo Green Tuff (MEGT) resulted from the largest volume explosive eruption from Ischia island (south Italy). Its tephra is one of the main stratigraphic markers of the central Mediterranean area. Despite its importance, a detailed characterisation of the petrography and mineral chemistry of MEGT is lacking. To fill this gap, we present detailed petrographic description and electron microprobe mineral chemistry data on samples collected on-land from the MEGT. Juvenile clasts include pumice, scoria, and obsidian fragments with porphyritic/glomeroporphyritic, vitrophyric, and fragmental textures. The porphyritic index is 13–40 vol.%, and phenocryst phases include alkali-feldspar, plagioclase, clinopyroxene, ferrian phlogopite, and titano-magnetite, in order of decreasing abundance; accessory phases include sphene, hydroxy-fluor-apatite, and rare edenite. Plagioclase varies from predominant andesine to subordinate oligoclase, whereas alkali-feldspar is more variable from sanidine to anorthoclase; quasi-pure sanidine commonly occurs as either rim or recrystallisation overgrowth of large phenocrysts due to hydrothermal alteration. Secondary minerals include veins and patches of carbonate minerals, Fe-Mn oxyhydroxides, clay minerals, and zeolites. Clinopyroxene is ferroan diopside (En45–29Fs7–27) and never reaches Na-rich compositions. This feature allows the discrimination of MEGT from aegirine-bearing, distal tephra layers erroneously attributed to MEGT, with implications for the areal distribution of Ischia explosive deposits.

A detailed petrochemical investigation of the peridotites from the Mt. Pollino area (Basilicata, Southern Italy) allowed to provide the first comprehensive reconstruction of the evolution and geodynamic setting of ophiolitic mantle from the Southern Apennines. These mantle peridotites firstly acquired strongly-refractory modal and chemical compositions consistent with large degrees of partial melting (≥ 23%). This process was presumably assisted by concomitant injection of melt increments rising from deeper levels of the mantle column, as suggested by relatively large Al and Fe contents of Ol, Opx and Sp. The porous flow ascent of melt increments produced by deeper near-fractional melting continued after the end of the partial melting, as recorded by precipitation of disseminated clinopyroxene out of thermal and chemical equilibrium with the other rock-forming minerals. The Pollino mantle sequence locally experienced reheating associated to a new episode of porous flow migration of melts with REE composition approaching that of N-MORB. The petrological evolution recorded by the peridotites of Mt. Pollino, their high equilibrium T (up to 1100 °C) and the absence of pyroxenites show remarkable analogies with modern abyssal peridotites, pointing to an intra-oceanic setting of the Jurassic Ligurian Tethys for this mantle sequence. According to the present knowledge about the Southern Apennines, the abyssal-like peridotites with the associated terrigenous sediments and continental crustal rocks were incorporated in the Ligurian Accretionary Complex and reached HP/LT conditions during a subduction event starting in Upper Oligocene, to be later exhumed in the Tortonian. The results of this study strongly support the existence of significant differences in terms of geodynamic evolution between Southern and Northern Apennines. © 2017 Elsevier B.V.

A ~ 5 m thick pyroclastic and volcaniclastic sequence, never reported before, comprising a pumice fall deposit has been recognized in a disused quarry near Pollena Trocchia, on the NW slope of Somma-Vesuvius. It is composed of three stratigraphic units: a pumice fall deposit that underlies a pyroclastic density current deposit; they are overlain by a volcaniclastic unit emplaced during a quiescent period of the volcano. The pyroclastic deposits are separated by a horizon of reworked material indicating the emplacement from two distinct eruptive events. The pumice fall deposit has been subject of a detailed investigation. It consists of an ash bed overlaid by a roughly stratified pumice fall layer. The presence of ballistic clasts indicates the proximal nature of this deposit and its stratigraphic position below the Pomici di Base (22 ka) Plinian deposit allows constraining its age to the pre-caldera period (22–39 ky) of activity of Somma-Vesuvius. Samples have been collected in order to perform sedimentological (grain size and componentry), geochemical and isotopic analyses. Samples range from moderately to poorly sorted and show a trachytic composition. The comparison with literature data of compatible deposits vented from Somma-Vesuvius (Schiava, Taurano and Codola eruptions as well as borehole data) allows excluding any correlation with already known Vesuvian products suggesting that the analysed products are ascribable to a new, pre-caldera, explosive eruption. We name this new event “Carcavone eruption”. Based on thickness, maximum lithic clasts and orientation of impact sags, showing a provenance from SE, we envisage the emplacement from a Plinian style eruption vented in the northern sector of the current caldera.

Understanding millennial and sub-millennial climate variability during past low eccentricity interglacials similar to the Holocene is important for forecasting the evolution of climate and natural variability. The Ideale section (Montalbano Jonico, Southern Italy) studied here provides one of the best records of MIS 19c, the closest orbital analog to the Holocene. This exposed marine series covers Termination IX to the inception of MIS 18 with very high sedimentation rates (i.e. 90–200 cm/ka). We present 1) benthic δ18O and δ13C records at 90–200 year time-resolution, 2) a new 40Ar/39Ar age of 774.1 ± 0.9 ka for tephra layer V4 (Matuyama-Brunhes transitional period) and 3) new calcareous plankton, palynological and authigenic 10Be/9Be data. Our new Bayesian depth-age model suggests a 11.5 ± 3.4 ka (95% confidence) duration for the climatic optimum. The δ18O series reveals millennial-scale oscillations (with sharp transitions

The Vesuvio National Park, established in June 1995, is the green area closest to Napoli megacity, which suffers the absence of urban green spaces and could hence offer to citizens the opportunity to enjoy healthy places in a peculiar environment as the landscape of an active volcano. We here propose two trails with several stops, named the Ancient Railway Track and the Valle dell’Inferno. They start from San Sebastiano al Vesuvio and Ottaviano towns, located on two opposite sides of northern Somma-Vesuvio area, and are both directed towards the Vesuvio crater. Along the trails, the visitors can enjoy several volcanic forms and products (the Somma caldera rim, dykes, lava domes, ropy lava flows, pyroclastic fall deposits) together with historical remains, such as the Cook Railway track, and the typical botanic association, the Mediterranean bush. The stops were illustrated with panels describing in detail both geological and landscape features with pictures and simple text boxes, clear and engaging for a wide set of excursionists of different ages and cultural backgrounds. The quality of the two trails was assessed through a quantitative evaluation of the single stops considering the different typologies of expected visitors. The project of promotion and fruition of green spaces in an active volcanic area here proposed contributes to encourage healthy living and raise well-being and could represent one of the means to achieve a better level of resilience for a society exposed to high volcanic risk.

Rugged peaks, large intermontane basins and frequent seismicity all characterize the active extensional tectonic setting of the southern Apennines. The Matese ridge typifies the active tectonic setting of the southern Apennines with steep carbonate mountain fronts and large depositional centres. Moderate to high magnitude earthquakes have affected the northern, western and eastern sectors of the Matese ridge in historical times. However, the seismogenic potential of the extensional fault system bounding the southern Matese mountain front has not been fully assessed to date. To unravel the active tectonic setting of the southern Matese mountain front, we have carried out a comprehensive geomorphological and tectonic-geomorphology investigation of the mountain front and its piedmont and have constrained results through chronological (i.e., tephrostratigraphical and 40Ar/39Ar) and structural data. Our study highlights that in the last ∼600 ka, activity along E-W trending normal faults has identified a locus of higher slip rate tectonic activity in the central part of the analysed mountain front. These active E-W-striking normal faults are inherited, reactivated structures, which have interacted with newly formed NW-SE-striking normal faults during NE-SW extension active on the regional scale, causing fault bending and local extension to be oriented N-S. Consequently, lower slip rates have been recorded along the NW-SE-striking normal faults at the north-western and south-eastern tips of the southern Matese front. The long-term displacement rate of the fault system at the boundary of the central part of the southern Matese front is consistent with mean values of displacement of faults that, in the southern Apennines, show evidence of activity during the late Quaternary. Despite strong historical seismicity clustering primarily around the study area, our data highlight that it cannot be ruled out that moderate to high magnitude seismicity could affect the southern Matese mountain front. Our case study represents an example of the possible modes of formation and evolution of mountain front-basin systems in extensional setting, and shows how the combination of different data sets allows unravelling the interaction between tectonic, erosional and sedimentary processes, which lead to landscape evolution of active mountain belts.

Two boreholes, both about 16 m-deep, have been drilled in the Garigliano Plain, a coastal-alluvial plain located at the boundary between southern Latium and northern Campania, Italy. The drill holes have been planned and carried out in the southern part of the plain, near to the bordering ridge of Mount Massico. The multidisciplinary analyses performed on sediment samples from both cores revealed the presence of several marine and continental sedimentation environments, transitional facies and volcanic rocks. All these data, together with the stratigraphic correlation between the two logs, allowed the reconstruction of the sedimentary and morphological evolution of the plain during the Late Quaternary. Further, such an evolutionary sequence has been used as a comparison scheme with regard to other coastal plains of the Tyrrhenian side of central and southern Italy to stress similar or different behaviours among them on a distance of about 400 km of coastal belt. Some remarkable differences have been actually enlighten, with particular reference to the MIS 5.5 and the Holocene. The occurrence in both cores of products of the Campanian Ignimbrite – a ~ 40 ka pyroclastic unit – and associated reworked deposits (about five metres-thick in both cases), has been here reported for the first time in the subsurface of the southern part of the Garigliano Plain. In addition, a tephra layer has been detected at −14.50 m of depth (i.e. 13.50 m a.s.l.) in the northernmost core. This layer has been 40Ar/39Ar dated at 124.5 ± 0.5 ka. In the upper part of the same drill core, deposits interpreted as lagoonal-swamp facies have been recognized. On the basis of 14C dating, we can attribute the starting stage of such a sedimentation to the effects induced by the Post-glacial sea-level rise at about 8000 yr BP. These chronological constraints permitted us to obtain from the paleoecological, palynological, and granulometric analyses of the sampled successions helpful and precise information about sea-level changes along that coastal belt.

A procedure to operationalize the environmental component of urban resilience in areas increasingly exposed to hazardous events, often intensified by climate changes, is here proposed. The procedure was implemented in a Geographic Information System framework named “Resilience and Disaster Risk Management” that manages spatial and non-spatial data through the implementation of workflows aimed at streamlining and standardizing all the steps. Indices and indicators are used to semi-quantitatively assess the environmental driver that, along with economic, social and institutional component, governs the direction of the urban system. The indicators/indices were here investigated and mapped at the census district scale. The procedure was tested at Ischia Island (Southern Italy) exposed to volcanic, seismic, landslide, flood and coastal erosion hazards. The spatial variability of environmental resilience is shown into 13 maps that discretize the island into high, medium and low resilience classes. They resulted valid tools to prepare the urban system to possible future hazardous events during the mitigation phase of disaster-risk management (long term) but also to illustrate the capacity of a system to respond/withstand and react in the response and recovery phases (short term). The mapping procedure can be applied to larger areas at risk keeping the censual districts as the minimum territorial reference units or using municipal, regional or national administrative units. The expected integration of resilience assessment in territorial planning (e.g. Regional Territorial Plan, Provincial Territorial Plan, and Municipality Territorial Plan) could greatly benefit from the outcomes of the present research for overcoming sectoral approaches in territorial management.

Magma-carbonate interactions and the subsequent CO2 release can occur before and during an eruption, critically affecting magma storage and ascent processes. However, the mechanisms and timescales of those interactions are unclear, particularly during the fast magma withdrawal that feeds high-intensity eruptions. In order to better understand magma‑carbonate interactions, we selected the caldera-forming Pomici di Base plinian eruption, the oldest (22 ka) and largest (> 4.4 km3) explosive event in the history of the Somma-Vesuvius volcanic system, as case study. During this event the emission of trachytic and latitic-shoshonitic (~25% and ~75% of the erupted magma volume respectively) magmas generated a long-lasting plinian column, hypothetically driven by CO2 liberation during magma‑carbonate interaction. In this study, we reconstruct in detail the evolution of the plumbing system during the Pomici di Base eruption combining geochemical (major/minor elements and radiogenic/stable isotopes) analyses of juvenile products with thermodynamic and kinetic calculations. Our results demonstrate that magmatic stoping (i.e., the formation and transport of host-rock pieces into a magma body) during caldera collapse evolution can promote rapid magma assimilation of carbonate blocks and CO2-rich fluids resulting from destabilization of the carbonate bedrock, thus triggering CO2 release and acting as a fuel for the eruption explosivity, especially when residual hot mafic magmas are involved. Our findings suggest that the accurate knowledge of these processes and their influence on eruptive dynamics are critical for improving the hazard assessments of volcanoes with plumbing systems located in carbonate bedrocks.

The present study focuses on the morphotectonic evolution of the axial portion of the Southern Apennine chain between the lower Calore River valley and the northern Camposauro mountain front (Campania Region). A multidisciplinary approach was used, including geomorphological, field-geology, stratigraphical, morphotectonic, structural, Ar-40/Ar-39 and tephrostratigraphical data. Results indicate that, from the Lower Pleistocene onwards, this sector of the chain was affected by extensional tectonics responsible for the onset of the sedimentation of Quaternary fluvial, alluvial fan and slope deposits. Fault systems are mainly composed of NW-SE, NE-SW and W-E trending strike-slip and normal faults, associated to NW-SE and NE-SW oriented extensions. Fault scarps, stratigraphical and structural data and morphotectonic indicators suggest that these faults affected the wide piedmont area of the northern Camposauro mountain front in the Lower Pleistocene-Upper Pleistocene time span. Faults affected both the oldest Quaternary slope deposits (Laiano Synthem, Lower Pleistocene) and the overlying alluvial fan system deposits constrained between the late Middle Pleistocene and the Holocene. The latter are geomorphologically and chrono-stratigraphically grouped into four generations, I generation: late Middle Pleistocene-early Upper Pleistocene, with tephra layers Ar-40/Ar-39 dated to 158 +/- 6 and 113 +/- 7 ka; II generation: Upper Pleistocene, with tephra layers correlated with the Campanian Ignimbrite (39ka) and with the slightly older Campi Flegrei activity (Ar-40/Ar-39 age 48 +/- 7 ka); III generation: late Upper Pleistocene-Lower Holocene, with tephra layers correlated with the Neapolitan Yellow Tuff (15ka); IV generation: Holocene in age. The evolution of the first three generations was controlled by Middle Pleistocene extensional tectonics, while Holocene fans do not show evidence of tectonic activity. Nevertheless, considering the moderate to high magnitude historical seismicity of the study area, we cannot rule out that some of the recognized faults may still be active. Copyright (c) 2018 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The analysis of tsunami catalogues and of data published on the NOAA web site pointed out that in the Mediterranean basin, from 2000 B.C. to present, about 480 tsunamis occurred, of which at least a third involved the Italian peninsula. Within this framework, a GIS-aided procedure that takes advantage of spatial analysis to apply the Papathoma Tsunami Vulnerability Assessment model of urban environments is presented, with the main purpose of assessing the vulnerability of wide areas at spatial resolution of the census district. The method was applied to the sector of Napoli city enclosed between Posillipo Hill and the Somma-Vesuvio volcano because of the high population rates (apex value of 5000 inh/km2) and potential occurrence of hazardous events such as earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and mass failures that can trigger tsunamis. The vulnerability status of the urban environment was depicted on a map. About 21% of the possibly inundated area, corresponding with the lowlands along the shoreline, shows a very high tsunami vulnerability. High vulnerability characterizes 26% of inundable zones while medium-low vulnerability typifies a wide area of the Sebeto-Volla plain, ca 800 m away from the shoreline. This map represents a good tool to plan the actions aimed at reducing risk and promoting resilience of the territory.

Il Tufo Giallo Napoletano (NYT) è stato messo in posto da un'eruzione catastrofica avvenuta ai Campi Flegrei circa 14.9 ± 0.4 ka (Deino et alii, 2004). Il volume stimato dei depositi piroclastici emessi è di circa 45 km3 DRE (Dense Rock Equivalent) che ha ricoperto una superficie di circa 1000 km2 e la formazione di una caldera di circa 10 km di diametro (Scarpati et alii, 1993; Orsi et alii, 1995). Il Golfo di Gaeta, al margine settentrionale della Campania, si trova a ridosso dei Campi Flegrei e fa parte di un bacino plio-pleistocenico associato a faglie normali e trascorrenti legate all'evoluzione del Tirreno orientale. La sedimentazione in questo settore è stata notevolmente influenzata dall'intensa attività vulcanica dei Campi Flegrei. In particolare l'eruzione del NYT ha prodotto, sulla piattaforma continentale, la messa in posto di sedimenti vulcano-clastici che hanno formato un marker stratigrafico (V in Iorio et al., 2014) riconosciuto in un'ampia area a largo di Cuma (Aiello et al., 2017). Mediante l'interpretazione, in chiave stratigrafico sequenziale, di una griglia di profili sismici ad alta risoluzione, è stato caratterizzato dal punto di vista litologico e geochimico mediante l'analisi di un campione prelevato da un carotaggio eseguito sulla scapata continentale, dove lo spessore della coltre sedimentaria era notevolmente assottigliata. Nelle sezioni sismiche studiate, il NYT corrisponde a un riflettore continuo sulla piattaforma, ad alta intensità e piano-parallelo, intercalato ai depositi marini del System Tract trasgressivo. La profondità di V dal fondo è compresa tra da 10 a 30 ms (da 8 a circa 25 m). IL carotaggio C1161, eseguito alla profondità di 144 m, ha recuperato 2.62 m depositi la cui compattazione stimata è di circa il 15%. I sedimenti sono rappresentati principalmente da fango e argilla. Una variazione granulometrica avviene a circa 1,60 m dove è presente, fino alla base, sabbia fine e frazioni ghiaiose, i cui clasti sono essenzialmente gusci di organismi e pomici. Il profilo sismico di campionatura dimostra che la base del carotaggio ha recuperato la sommità di V. L'analisi tefrostratigrafica del campione di base ha permesso di caratterizzare il NYT, in termini di litologia e della composizione chimica. Secondo la classificazione di Le Maitre (2005), il vetro vulcanico contenuto nel campione ha composizione compresa tra una trachite/fonolite (trachyphonolite) e il limite tephriphonolite/latite, formando un trend composizionale continuo. L'analisi sismo-stratigrafica e tefrostratigrafica è in corso di svolgimento in tutta l'area della piattaforma continentale del Golfo di Gaeta. I primi risultati riguardano un carotaggio (C9) eseguito 30 km a largo della foce del Fiume Garigliano. La frazione vulcanica di un campione prelevato ad 1,60 m dal fondo è soprattutto rappresentata da pomici vescicolate da vetro e rari clasti di lava. I clasti di vetro hanno una composizione compresa tra una trachite/fonolite (trachyphonolite) e una tephriphonolite. Tenendo in considerazione l'intervallo delle età dedotte da datazioni al radiocarbonio è stata ipotizzata la correlazione in fig.1.

Clinopyroxene and olivine are ubiquitous phases in Somma-Vesuvius (SV) volcanics and for the first time they were systematically studied in several products younger than 40ka. In this manuscript chemical compositions (major, trace and rare earth elements) of a large set of olivine and clinopyroxene crystals from selected rock samples are presented and discussed. Fourteen pumice samples from Plinian pyroclastic deposits as well as three scoriae and eight lava samples from inter-Plinian deposits were collected. A representative number of olivine and clinopyroxene crystals (n~50) were selected for each sample and analysed by electron microprobe and laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer, resulting in a large database, which is now available to the scientific community. All studied eruptive products contain olivine and clinopyroxene crystals spanning a wide range of compositions. Olivines show Fo content varying from 91 to 68, while clinopyroxenes display Mg# ranging from 93 to 71. In samples younger than A.D. 79, the more evolved (Mg#82–72) clinopyroxene crystals show clear Ca enrichment (~23.5–24.5wt% CaO) with respect to those from older samples (before-A.D.79, ~23–21wt% CaO). The results corroborate disequilibrium between olivine, clinopyroxene and the hosting melt, and an increasing role of carbonate assimilation in SV magma evolution in the last 2ka. The database here produced is thought as a share product that makes available mineral data and can be used for further studies by researchers to investigate geochemical evolution of the SV system.

Il Tufo Giallo Napoletano (TGN) è stato messo in posto da un evento di tipo pliniano avvenuto ai Campi Flegrei e datato 14.9 ± 0.4 ka (Deino et alii, 2004). Il volume stimato dei depositi piroclastici emessi è di circa 45 km3 DRE (Dense Rock Equivalent) e tali depositi hanno ricoperto una superficie di circa 1000 km2. L'eruzione del TGN ha determinato la formazione di una caldera di circa 10 km di diametro (Scarpati et alii, 1993; Orsi et alii, 1995).Il Golfo di Gaeta, al margine settentrionale della Campania, si trova a nord dei Campi Flegrei e fa parte di un bacino plio-pleistocenico associato a faglie normali e trascorrenti legate all'evoluzione del Tirreno sud?orientale (Aiello et al., 2000). La sedimentazione in questo settore è stata notevolmente influenzata dall'intensa attività vulcanica dei Campi Flegrei durante il tardo Pleistocene-Olocene. In particolare, i prodotti legati all'eruzione del TGN sono stati correlati, attraverso la piattaforma continentale, ad un marker stratigrafico (V in Iorio et al., 2014). Analisi sismostratigrafiche e tefrostratigrafiche di dettaglio hanno consentito di caratterizzare il tefra in esame nel settore meridionale del bacino al largo di Cuma (Aiello et al., 2017). Nelle sezioni sismiche studiate, il TGN corrisponde a un riflettore continuo sulla piattaforma, ad alta intensità e piano-parallelo, intercalato ai depositi marini del System Tract trasgressivo. La profondità di V dal fondo è compresa tra da 10 a 30 ms (da 8 a circa 25 m). Il carotaggio C1161, eseguito alla profondità di 144 m, ha recuperato 2.62 m di depositi con una compattazione stimata di circa il 15%. I sedimenti sono rappresentati principalmente da fango e argilla. Dall'analisi sismostratigrafica si evidenzia come la base del carotaggio in esame corrisponda alla sommità di V. L'analisi tefrostratigrafica del campione prelevato alla base del carotaggio ha permesso di caratterizzare la parte sommitale del TGN, in termini di litologia e composizione chimica. Secondo la classificazione di Le Maitre (2005), la composizione dei frammenti di vetro vulcanico estratti dal campione ricade lungo il limite tra le trachiti e le fonoliti e quello tra le tefrifonoliti e le latiti. Tenendo conto dell'intervallo di età dedotto da datazioni al radiocarbonio è stata ipotizzata la correlazione tra i due carotaggi riportata in fig.1.

aleoclimatic data are essential for fingerprinting the climate of the earth before the advent of modern recording instruments. They enable us to recognize past climatic events and predict future trends. Within this framework, a conceptual and logical model was drawn to physically implement a paleoclimatic database named WDB-Paleo that includes the paleoclimatic proxies data of marine sediment cores of the Mediterranean Basin. Twenty entities were defined to record four main categories of data: a) the features of oceanographic cruises and cores (metadata); b) the presence/absence of paleoclimatic proxies pulled from about 200 scientific papers; c) the quantitative analysis of planktonic and benthonic foraminifera, pollen, calcareous nannoplankton, magnetic susceptibility, stable isotopes, radionuclides values of about 14 cores recovered by Institute for Coastal Marine Environment (IAMC) of Italian National Research Council (CNR) in the framework of several past research projects; d) specific entities recording quantitative data on δ18O, AMS 14C (Accelerator Mass Spectrometry) and tephra layers available in scientific papers. Published data concerning paleoclimatic proxies in the Mediterranean Basin are recorded only for 400 out of 6000 cores retrieved in the area and they show a very irregular geographical distribution. Moreover, the data availability decreases when a constrained time interval is investigated or more than one proxy is required. We present three applications of WDB-Paleo for the Younger Dryas (YD) paleoclimatic event at Mediterranean scale and point out the potentiality of this tool for integrated stratigraphy studies. © 2017 I. Alberico et al. 2017.

The Sabatini Volcanic District belongs to the Roman magmatic province of Central Italy, and the Tufo Giallo della Via Tiberina was one of the most voluminous pyroclastic flow-forming eruptions in this district. Post-depositional processes strongly affected this pyroclastic flow deposit leading to the crystallization of different authigenic phases (chabazite, phillipsite, feldspar). A field volcanological survey, along with a careful mineralogical characterization of a large amount of samples of the lithified facies, allowed us to reconstruct a type section primarily based on the amounts of the main authigenic phases. Chabazite always prevailed over phillipsite throughout the entire section, although in the innermost portions of the deposit, where temperatures remained high, chabazite mostly converted into a more stable phase such as an adularia-like phase. In addition to the zeolitization process, the fairly strong mechanical properties of this tuff can be also ascribed to the diffuse occurrence of microcrystalline calcite, which re-precipitated as a secondary phase after the dissolution of carbonaceous clasts.

The morpho-tectonic and sedimentary evolution of the Mercure intramontane basin (Calabria–Lucania boundary, southern Apennines) has been assessed through facies analysis, morphostratigraphy and geomorphological correlation with adjacent areas. The Mercure basin, one of the most active seismogenic zones of the southern Apennines, is a favorable area for reconstructing the main stages of landscape evolution of the axial zone because of its capability to record changes in base level during the Quaternary. In addition, the presence of both erosional and depositional Palaeosurfaces is a useful marker for reconstructing tectonic and morphogenetic events, and hence to detect the role played by tectonics and climate in its genesis, evolution and extinction. The present study identifies the key role of tectonics and denudation, combined with high-frequency floods, as mechanisms controlling alluvial sedimentation in the study area. During endorheic conditions, denudational processes driven by pulses of extensional deformation of the basin margin caused strong alluvial inputs that resulted in the development of alluvial fans. Alluvial facies are mainly characterized by turbulent, subaerial, hyperconcentrated flood flows deposited during the glacial, semi-arid conditions of MIS 14. The retrogradational stacking pattern of the alluvial system indicates decreasing rates of tectonic activity along with declining river gradients. The Mercure coalescing alluvial fans were inundated by lake transgression during MIS 13 in response to (i) abrupt tectonic subsidence at the basin margins and (ii) large decrease of coarse sediment supply due to the interplay among climate, tectonics and catchment size changes. In this regard, it is suggested that tectonic control on the drainage network along with climate and long-term slope evolution may have caused marked pulses in sediment supply, thus influencing the arrangement of facies associations in the sedimentary succession. In addition, the study points out that the main tectonic landforms developed during each period of the landscape evolution well correspond with some active fault segments.

Lithological, mineralogical, and glass chemical analyses on juvenile fragments extracted from 20 tephra layers embedded within the lacustrine sediments of the Acerno Basin (Southern Apennines, Italy) were carried out together with four sanidine 40 Ar/ 39 Ar age determinations. The measured ages span the interval between 561 and 493 ka. Middle Pleistocene eruptive activity at Roman Province volcanoes was identified as the main possible source of the investigated tephra layers. Some of them were correlated with precise terrestrial counterparts corresponding to large explosive events of the Sabatini (e.g. Tufo Giallo della Via Tiberina) and Alban Hills volcanic districts (e.g. Tufo Pisolitico di Trigoria). The integration of tephrochronology and pollen analyses allowed the Acerno lacustrine sedimentation to be constrained between MIS 14 and 12, which overlaps with several well-studied, lacustrine successions of the Southern Apennines. The correlation with other tephrostratigraphic records from intramontane basins in central-southern Apennines testifies to the wide dispersal of at least three tephra layers that serve as marker layers, thus improving the resolution of the Middle Pleistocene Italian tephrostratotype.

The basal portion (2.92–5.08 m from core top) of the CET1 core located in a bathyal area of the eastern Tyrrhenian Sea is the subject of a multidisciplinary investigation, encompassing tephrostratigraphy, quantitative analyses of planktonic foraminifera and calcareous nannofossil assemblages, and δ18O measurements, supported by a 40Ar/39Ar age determination. Calcareous nannofossil assemblages allowed the attribution of the analyzed sediments to the biozone MMN21a, and the succession spans from more than 48 to ca. 105 ka, although there are at least two stratigraphic gaps and minor resedimentation episodes. A paleoclimatic reconstruction obtained via δ18O and planktonic foraminifera data identifies several of the major climatic events that occurred in the investigated time span. A total of 13 visible tephra layers and cryptotephras are recognized and correlated with their volcanic sources (Campanian Volcanic Zone and Pantelleria volcano) and, when possible, with well-known and dated events or with widespread marker tephras. Using a combination of biostratigraphic, oxygen isotope, and tephrostratigraphic correlations, we develop a chronostratigraphy for the main climatic events and tephra layers in the core and pinpoint tephra markers for the climatic events comprised between GS 22 and GI 24 in the eastern Tyrrhenian Sea.

We present a high-resolution paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the last five millennia from a shallow water marine sedimentary record from the central Tyrrhenian Sea (Gulf of Gaeta) using planktonic foraminifera, pollen, oxygen stable isotope, tephrostratigrapy and magnetostratigrapy. This multiproxy approach allows to evidence and characterize nine time intervals associated with archaeological/cultural periods: Eneolithic (base of the core–ca. 2410 BCE), Early Bronze Age (ca. 2410 BCE–ca. 1900 BCE), Middle Bronze Age–Iron Age (ca. 1900 BCE–ca. 500 BCE), Roman Period (ca. 500 BCE–ca. 550 CE), Dark Age (ca. 550 CE–ca. 860 CE), Medieval Climate Anomaly (ca. 860 CE–ca. 1250 CE), Little Ice Age (ca. 1250 CE–ca. 1850 CE), Industrial Period (ca. 1850 CE–ca. 1950 CE), Modern Warm Period (ca. 1950 CE–present day). The reconstructed climatic evolution in the investigated sedimentary succession is coherent with the short-term climate variability documented at the Mediterranean scale. By integrating the planktonic foraminiferal turnover from carnivorous to herbivorous–opportunistic species, the oxygen isotope record and the pollen distribution, we document important modification from the onset of the Roman Period to the present-day. From ca. 500 CE upwards the documentation of the cooling trend punctuated by climate variability at secular scale evidenced by the short-term δ 18 O is very detailed. We hypothesise that the present day warm conditions started from the end of cold Maunder event. Additionally, we provide that the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) directly affected the central Mediterranean region during the investigated time interval.