Effect of paleomorphology on facies distribution of the Campania Ignimbrite in the northern Campania Plain, southern Italy

Abstract The Campania Ignimbrite eruption (CI—39 ka) is of the most explosive supereruptions of the last 200 ka in Europe, which generated about 250–300 km3 of ignimbrite deposit venting from fissural faults of the Campania Plain, southern Italy. The pyroclastic deposits associated to this event show different lithofacies from the vent to the medial distal part reflecting changes in style of deposition and/or paleoenvironmental setting. Based on some 1000 stratigraphic well logs and previous studies, a qualitative restoration was made of the morphology of the Campania Plain, before the CI eruption. According to our interpretation, from the proximal area toward NNW, four main paleogeographic domains can be recognized, which conditioned the medial/distal distribution of the CI lithofacies and their depositional and early diagenetic environments across the plain.