A review of the tectonic, volcanological and hazard history of Vulcano (Aeolian Islands, Italy)

Abstract

Vulcano is one of the seven volcanic islands composing the Aeolian Islands archipelago (Southern Italy), which also includes three other active volcanoes. The island was originally a stratovolcano like Stromboli; afterwards, its shape turned towards a complex structure composed of several volcanic landforms of different sizes. This is due to the great variability of the tectonic and volcanic phenomena, presently showing a volcano made by two calderas, a lava dome complex and two small active cones. The largest of them is the tuff cone of La Fossa, hosted in the middle of a 3-km-wide caldera structure (La Fossa caldera), whose borders are visible on the southern and western sides of the island. Its last eruption occurred in 1888–1890. At present, Vulcano is characterized by weak shallow seismicity and intense fumarolic activity mainly concentrated within the crater of the La Fossa cone and along its rims during a recent unrest phase started in 2021, and measured with a multiparametric monitoring network.