Calderas Around the World and Their Characteristics

About this Research Topic

Background

Calderas represent one of the most impressive features of volcanic activity. The collapse of a portion of crust, following an explosive eruption and the extraction of a significant amount of magma, occurs in all tectonic environments and in wide range of eruptive types and magnitudes. Morphology and rim of calderas are not always easy to identify because of tectonic and volcanic events that may hide the topographic depression originated by the collapse. Caldera-forming eruptions accumulate thick, intensely welded ignimbrite sequences within the caldera and thinner, ignimbrite outflow sheet with coarse breccias that records the caldera-forming phase of the eruption. Since Walker’s classification, many caldera types have been defined (Lipman, 1977) even if many structural types (e.g. downsag, piecemeal, trapdoor) are possibly associated with the same caldera. Magma-induced uplift of the caldera floor produces resurgent domes or blocks up to a thousand meters thick. Caldera unrest can generate seismicity, uplift, gas emission and changes of the temperature of fumaroles.

It is clear that we have different examples of calderas around the world and that the volcanology is engaged in studying their characteristics and behavior. There are many ways to investigate the caldera structure: gravity anomalies can reveal the presence of unconsolidated sediments accumulated within the sinking caldera; seismic studies may define the substructure of large calderas; geochemical record of gas emissions may determine the source of unrest and its temporal evolution in some calderas; detailed volcanological description and correlation of intra- and extra-calderas ignimbrites define the timing of caldera collapse; finally structural fieldwork reconstruct deformation processes occurring during and after the caldera collapse and provide key elements for the exploration of geothermal systems.

With this Research Topic we aim to create an overview of various calderas around the world, while looking at types, origin, behavior, etc., as well as research results and applications that can be useful within the volcanology field and beyond.

The manuscripts submitted should take into consideration the below potential topics although other submissions are also encouraged:
• Different calderas around the world;
• Modelling of various types of calderas;
• Tectonophysics implications of calderas;
• Dynamics of calderas;
• Caldera volcanism and related deposits;
• Caldera lakes;
• Hazards linked to calderas;
• Future research developments.

Keywords: volcanology, caldera, hazards, eruption, caldera lakes

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