High-resolution shallow seismic tomography of a hydrothermal area: application to the Solfatara, Pozzuoli

The Solfatara is one of the major volcanoes of the Phlegrean Fields (Campi Flegrei) volcanic complex, and it is located in a densely populated area a few kilometres west of the city of Naples. It is an active resurgent caldera that has been characterized by a rich history of surface–ground deformation and soil diffuse degassing and fumarolic emissions, which are indications of the top of a hydrothermal plume. A seismic survey was completed in May 2009 for the characterization of the main subsurface features of the Solfatara. Using the complete data set, we have carried out surface wave inversion with high spatial resolution. A classical minimization of a least-squares objective function was first computed to retrieve the dispersion curves of the surface waves. Then, the fitting procedure between the data and a three-sediment-layer forward model was carried out (to a depth of 7 m), using an improved version of the neighbourhood algorithm. The inversion results indicate a NE-SW fault, which is not visible at the surface. This was confirmed by a temperature survey conducted in 2010. A passive seismic experiment localized the ambient noise sources that correlate well with the areas of high CO2 flux and high soil temperatures. Finally, considering that the intrinsic attenuation is proportional to the frequency, a centroid analysis provides an overview of the attenuation of the seismic waves, which is closely linked to the petrophysical properties of the rock. These different approaches that merge complete active and passive seismic data with soil temperature and CO2 flux maps confirm the presence of the hydrothermal system plume. Some properties of the top of the plume are indicated and localized.