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Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 131 (2004) 19^32

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Combined TEM-MT investigation of shallow-depth resistivity

structure of Mt Somma-Vesuvius
Adele Manzella a; , Gianni Volpi a , Annalisa Zaja b , Max Meju c
a
CNR-International Institute for Geothermal Research, Via Moruzzi 1, 56124 Pisa, Italy
b
Dipartimento di Geologia, Paleontologia e Geo¢sica, Via Giotto 1, 35123 Padua, Italy
c
Department of Environmental Science, Lancaster University, Lancaster LA1 4YQ, UK
Received 8 February 2002; accepted 21 August 2003

Abstract

The conductivity structure of the top 2 km of the crust is examined using data from collocated magnetotelluric
(MT) and time-domain electromagnetic (TDEM) soundings across the Vesuvius volcano. The MT data were corrected
for static shift using dual-configuration TDEM data. The TEM and MT data were jointly inverted to yield 1D models
while the TE and TM mode MT data were jointly inverted using a 2D inversion approach. The resulting models
reveal the presence of a resistive cover layer underlain by an anomalous conductive layer (c. 250^500 m below the
ground surface) that is shallowest underneath the caldera. We suggest that the conductive body below the caldera is
related to enhanced hydrothermal circulation; outside the caldera, the conductor is consistent with the hydrological
system and is interpreted as mapping a suggested aquifer system and underlying clayey deposits. Our results show that
the aquifer hosted in the Vesuvius edifice is not homogeneous, but appears particularly conductive in the western and
southern sectors of the volcano. It was found from 3D numerical modelling study that the presence of the shallow and
thick conductors and the Tyrrhenian sea changes the penetration depth of MT data and must be taken into account
during interpretation. Recommendations are made for any future MT field studies aimed at resolving the deep
resistivity structure of Mt Somma-Vesuvius.
7 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Mt Somma-Vesuvius; electromagnetic depth sounding; electromagnetic modelling; groundwater circulation

1. Introduction area (Scandone et al., 1993; Santacroce et al.,

1.1. Geological and geophysical background
Mount Somma-Vesuvius (Fig. 1) is considered
a high-risk active volcanic system because of its
dangerous past activity in a densely populated
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +39-050-3152392;
Fax: +39-050-3152323.
E-mail address: manzella@igg.cnr.it (A. Manzella).
1996). During recent years it has been the subject
of detailed volcanological, petrological and geo-
physical investigations. Somma-Vesuvius is a
Quaternary composite stratovolcano made of
fall and £ow deposits and lavas connected to
both e¡usive and explosive eruptions. It is located
in the Campanian plain, a Plio^Quaternary struc-
tural depression characterised by two NW^SE-
and NE^SW-trending fault systems and now
buried 2 km below the volcanic edi¢ce. The

0377-0273 / 03 / $ ^ see front matter 7 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/S0377-0273(03)00313-5

VOLGEO 2718 22-1-04

20 A. Manzella et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 131 (2004) 19^32
main deep structural features and the volcanic
setting are probably related to the thinning of
the continental sedimentary and metamorphic
basement following the opening of the Tyrrhenian
basin (e.g. Patacca et al., 1990).
Various geophysical studies have attempted to
de¢ne the shallow and deep structural features of
the Mt Somma-Vesuvius area. The structure is
characterised by three main units: a polygenic ¢ll-
ing of the tectonic depression of the Campanian
Plain ; a sedimentary, mainly carbonate basement;
a crystalline basement. The top of the carbonate
basement was constrained by gravity studies (Cas-
sano and La Torre, 1987; Berrino et al., 1998),
seismic tomography and seismic re£ection images
(Zollo et al., 1998, 2002 and references therein)
and deep well data (Balducci et al., 1983), whereas
its depth extent was inferred from gravity and
semi-quantitative interpretation of aeromagnetic
data (Mostardini and Merlini, 1986; Berrino et
al., 1998). Because of its heterogeneous composi-
tion (tu¡s, tu⁄tes, lavas, conglomerates, all of
di¡ering porosity and grade of alteration), the
polygenic ¢lling shows variability in physical
properties.
Vesuvius seismicity is restricted within the cal-
dera volume, with hypocentral depth ranging
from the top of the volcanic edi¢ce to about
6 km bsl and maximum occurrence located be-
tween 2 and 3 km bsl. The spatio-temporal fea-
tures of the seismic activity are apparently gov-
erned by increases in pore pressure, linked to
stress perturbations concentrated around a high-
rigidity core (De Natale et al., 2000) and/or the
intense hydrothermal £uid circulation within the
caldera volume (Ventura and Vilardo, 1999). The
present Vesuvius crater appears to be located ap-
proximately above the edge of a high P-velocity
body, extending northward underneath Somma
caldera at depth (Cassano and La Torre, 1987;
Zollo et al., 1998, 2002). Aeromagnetic data
show a high magnetisation in the same volume
of rock (Fedi et al., 1998). This would indicate
the presence of a subvolcanic structure, probably
consisting of an array of magmatic dykes solidi-
¢ed at shallow depth. The lack of magnetisation
below 2 km would indicate a volumetrically neg-
ligible volcanic feeding system (Fedi et al., 1998).
VOLGEO 2718 22-1-04
Recent seismic data evidenced an extended low-
velocity layer at about 8 km depth, which was
interpreted as an almost £at sill, having a surface
area of at least 400 km2 (Auger et al., 2001). The
velocity decrease suggests that the magma body is
hosted in a densely fractured volume of rocks. To
be consistent with the magma volumes erupted in
the past, the sill should have a thickness of at
least 0.5^2 km. Teleseismic tomography evidenced
a low-velocity anomaly beneath the Vesuvius at
a depth of 15^35 km, located above a high-veloc-
ity zone dipping in the mantle (De Gori et al.,
2001).
1.2. Resistivity characterisation of
Somma-Vesuvius
Volcanic systems may be characterised by their
resistivity signatures since electrical resistivity is
highly a¡ected by temperature and the presence
of melts in the subsurface. However, previous
electrical resistivity studies carried out in the Ve-
suvius area did not yield an univocal model (cf.
Di Maio et al., 1998; Mu«ller et al., 1999). Dipolar
geoelectrics (DG) data detected an extended low-
resistivity zone coinciding with the caldera, down
to a depth of 2.5 km bgl ; this was supported by
self-potential data which detected a large positive
nucleus in the depth range 0.6^2.2 km bgl, below
the western border of the caldera (Di Maio et al.,
1998). Long-o¡set transient electromagnetic (LO-
TEM) and radiomagnetotelluric data de¢ned a
broad low-resistivity zone underlying a resistive
top layer (Mu«ller et al., 1999). The change in re-
sistivity was de¢ned at a depth of 500 m bgl with-
in the caldera, sharply increasing to 1500 m bgl
outside the caldera but close to its southern and
western rims. This shallow low-resistivity zone
was not detected by discrete (i.e. single-site) mag-
netotelluric (MT) data (Di Maio et al., 1998),
which de¢ned instead a resistive structure inter-
rupted by a widespread conductive intracrustal
layer, which is shallowest (8 km bgl) beneath the
central Vesuvius apparatus and deepens to 10^15
km away from it.
The transient electromagnetic (TDEM) and
MT methods are now widely used in volcanic in-
vestigations (e.g. Kagiyama et al., 1999; Bai et al.,
 A. Manzella et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 131 (2004) 19^32 21

2001; Sakkas et al., 2002) and both methods have
been deployed in the Vesuvius area in order to
clarify the shallow and deep resistivity distribu-
tion. This paper describes how the resulting data
might provide new insight into the shallow struc-
ture as well as help de¢ne a possible distribution
of £uid circulation inside the volcanic edi¢ce.
Since any present £uids may create a phreatomag-
matic explosion on contact with a shallow magma
chamber, which in turn may trigger a much larger
eruption, our inference of £uids in Vesuvius may
be signi¢cant in a volcanological context. A de-
scription is given of how the combined MT data
sets are unable to de¢ne the deep volcanic struc-
ture and a clari¢cation of the attendant structural
dimensionality is presented to guide future MT
surveying in the area.
2. Collocated TDEM-MT ¢eld experiments
We undertook MT ¢eld experiments in 1997.
The recordings were in single-site mode at 10 sites
around the main volcanic edi¢ce; the site distri-
bution is shown in Fig. 1. Four horizontal electric
and magnetic components of the MT ¢eld were
simultaneously recorded with two di¡erent sets of
¢eld equipment : the MSPM (medium^short peri-
od magnetotelluric) and two Phoenix V5, real-
time acquisition systems. The MSPM system
was deployed at sites 1^4 and data were recorded
in three di¡erent frequency bandwidths (800^1
Hz, 8^0.125 Hz, and 1^0.016 Hz). Two Phoenix
systems were used to record data at the remaining
sites in di¡erent sounding bandwidths (320^60
Hz, 40^7.5 Hz, and 6^0.03 Hz). More details of

Fig. 1. Location map of the Somma-Vesuvius study area. Preliminary MT soundings to test the hypothesis of shallow versus
deep magma chambers are shown. The relative numbers inside white boxes identify sites. The caldera rim and the TreCase well
location are also shown. Pro¢les A-AP and B-BP described in the text are indicated.

VOLGEO 2718 22-1-04

 22
A. Manzella et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 131 (2004) 19^32
VOLGEO 2718 22-1-04

Fig. 2. Apparent resistivity and phase curves from La Torraca tensor decomposition for the xy mode (open circles) and the yx mode (¢lled squares). The apparent
resistivity curves have been shifted to the level indicated by TDEM data (triangles). On sites 5 and 10 the TDEM data are those of the closest site.
 A. Manzella et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 131 (2004) 19^32
the ¢eld measurements are given elsewhere (Man-
zella et al., 2000).
Apparent resistivity and phase values were ob-
tained using classical tensorial processing tech-
niques (Swift, 1967). Although not shown here,
the application of robust processing (Larsen et
al., 1996) on these single-site data produced re-
sults very similar to those obtained by classical
processing. The most likely reason for this is
that data are mainly a¡ected by a pervasive co-
herent noise, and it is impossible to eliminate it in
single-site data, as will be discussed later. Singu-
lar-value decomposition of the impedances was
then carried out, obtaining by eigenstate analysis
the maximum (named xy) and minimum (named
yx) impedance amplitude and phase (La Torraca
et al., 1986). After decomposition most of the MT
sounding curves show a coincidence of the two
polarisation modes as evident in Fig. 2. Sites 8
and 9, where noise prevented us from computing
reasonable transfer functions, were not used for
the interpretation of the area and are not shown.
The coherence and statistical quality of the MT
data are good for sites above the caldera but they
become poor moving westward, toward Ercolano
town centre (see Fig. 1).
2.1. Investigation of noise characteristics of the
Vesuvius MT data
Two main kinds of noise appeared in the data:
(a) an uncoherent, uncorrelated noise, which cor-
rupted two sites but only partially a¡ected the
sites in the central, undisturbed and inhabited
area of the volcano ; (b) a coherent noise, perva-
sive on the low-frequency range data throughout
the entire set of data.
MT data for frequencies lower than 1 Hz
should be treated with caution since all the data
in the same frequency band showed the same fea-
ture: a step increase of apparent resistivity pro-
ducing an inclination of 45‡ in the logarithmic
apparent resistivity versus frequency plots, and a
zeroing of the phase values. It is well known that
such an e¡ect is created when strong dipolar EM
sources add to the weak natural MT signal (e.g.
Qian and Pedersen, 1991). Unfortunately this is a
frequent problem in Italy, where the DC-powered
VOLGEO 2718 22-1-04
23
railways create such a source (Larsen et al., 1996).
Vesuvius is very close to electri¢ed railways, and
there is still no practical way of eliminating the
very coherent noise created by this dipolar source
from single-site MT data. Clean natural MT sig-
nals can be isolated from noise in noisy areas by
the method of remote reference involving simulta-
neous MT recording at another site far from the
disturbance (Gamble et al., 1979) and requires
additional ¢nancial and logistical outlay. An at-
tempt was made to make simultaneous measure-
ment at site 4 in our survey and a very remote
site, but the results were of poor quality and were
not considered entirely reliable; hence, they will
not be shown here. We also tried to repeat the
single-site measurement on site 4 in the frequency
band 0.016^0.0003 Hz, and found that the noise
was still evident on the whole frequency band,
proving that the coherent noise also a¡ects the
very low frequencies.
2.2. TDEM soundings for MT static shift
correction
Since the coherent noise prevented any interpre-
tation of the low-frequency data, we concentrated
on processing and interpreting data for frequen-
cies higher than 1 Hz. On comparing our data
with the MT and geoelectrical data previously ac-
quired in the area (Di Maio et al., 1998), it was
apparent that MT data may have been a¡ected by
static shifts (Berdichevsky and Dmitriev, 1976).
At the time of the MT campaign, no data were
available to verify and correct this problem. Static
shift, manifested as a vertical shift of the log^log
apparent resistivity curves with the phase curves
remaining una¡ected, is a very common problem
in MT prospecting and leads to errors in the def-
inition of true resistivity and depths if not ac-
counted for (see e.g. Sternberg et al., 1988). We
considered it of primary importance to eliminate
static shift before attempting any modelling and
interpretation of MT data. Hence, TDEM data
were collected at the six most central MT sites.
The TDEM data were recorded using the Siro-
tem Mk3 equipment belonging to Leicester Uni-
versity. The transmitting loop size was 100U100 m
at three sites and 50U50 m at the other geometri-
24 A. Manzella et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 131 (2004) 19^32
cally constrained sites. Depth soundings were per-
formed using both the coincident-loop and cen-
tral-loop con¢gurations since they have jointly
been shown to be e¡ective for MT static shift
correction in some complex geological terrains
(see e.g. Meju et al., 1999, 2003; Sakkas et al.,
2002; Mohamed et al., 2002). The data band-
widths typically ranged from 0.01 to 30 ms but
recordings to about 100 ms were also possible at
two sites. In order to improve the signal-to-noise
ratio, several acquisitions were performed using
currents of di¡erent amplitudes and base frequen-
cies. For comparison with MT data, the TDEM
recording times were converted to their equivalent
MT periods as suggested in Meju (1996, 2002),
and TDEM data were used to identify and correct
for static shift the MT apparent resistivity curves.
The static shift proved to be large for sites 2 and
4, whereas it was minor on the other sites. The
MT data used in this study, represented by ¢lled
squares and open circles, as well as TDEM data
represented by triangles, are shown in Fig. 2.
Overall, the TDEM data indicate the presence
of a resistive (1000 6m) shallow volcanic cover
over the main volcanic edi¢ce. The resistivity de-
creases with depth in both TDEM and MT data
and all the MT soundings show a similar pattern,
exhibiting an almost layered electrostratigraphic
sequence (high^low^high resistivities). The same
Fig. 3. Apparent resistivity and phase pseudosections for pro¢le A-AP of Fig. 1.
VOLGEO 2718 22-1-04
pattern can be observed in the MT data of Di
Maio et al. (1998).
The apparent resistivity pseudosection for pro-
¢le A-AP in Fig. 1 shows a large area with very
low apparent resistivity values ( 6 5 6m) at a fre-
quency of about 1 Hz (Fig. 3). The same feature is
seen along pro¢le B-BP (not shown here).
3. Shallow-depth resistivity structure
The Vesuvius volcanic structure is truly 3D
such that both depths and resistivities could be
grossly incorrect when 2D modelling is applied
(cf. Park et al., 1983). However, it may be argued
that the MT conductivity structure should be
strongly in£uenced by the striking 2D setting de-
termined by the presence of the coast at a distance
of less than 10 km. In order to assess the struc-
tural dimensionality characteristics in the relevant
frequency range (1^800 Hz), we have carefully
analysed the result of La Torraca decomposition
of our MT data. It was noted that the absolute
value of the skew angle is low on all the sites
except site 7 where it is close to 35‡ on the whole
frequency band. The skew angle is closely related
to the dimensionality of the structure, since it
measures the deviation of the electrical and mag-
netic ¢elds from orthogonality. This angle is larg-
 A. Manzella et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 131 (2004) 19^32
VOLGEO 2718 22-1-04

Fig. 4. Comparison of resistivity models and available stratigraphic data. (a) 1D TEM-MT inversion model of site 3. On the left, the invariant apparent resistivity
and phase data and computed model response. Triangles = MT values, lozenges = TDEM values. (b) 1D models obtained by Bostick, Occam and layered inversions.
(c) Lithostratigraphic pro¢le of the TreCase well near survey site 3 (see Fig. 1 for location).

25
26 A. Manzella et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 131 (2004) 19^32

est at the periphery of a good conductor and di-
minishes with distance from the conductor. Tak-
ing into account the small dimension of the inves-
tigated area, which is 3U4 km, we interpret our
data as sensing a roughly 1D local structure or a
tabular sheet terminating abruptly in the north-
eastern direction. Considering the inductive and
geological length scales of the target, a 1D inver-
sion of the data may be attempted over a limited
frequency band. A similar assumption was implic-
it in the previous electrical investigations of Vesu-
vius (Di Maio et al., 1998; Mu«ller et al., 1999).
However, 2D inversion of the MT data will also
be undertaken for comparison.
el described above for the well site is perhaps
tenable over the entire survey area.
Notice in Fig. 5 that the conductive layer is
shallower beneath the central volcanic structure
than outside the caldera rim. However, we must
bear in mind that 1D interpretation is simplistic
and that all MT data for frequencies lower than
1 Hz were a¡ected by the coherent noise which
would thus limit model resolution to a large ex-
tent.
Ledo et al. (2002) have shown that when a 3D
conductive structure is located below the sound-
ing pro¢le and the structure has a strike extent

3.1. Evaluation of 1D and 2D models at a well site

The adopted validity test for 1D modelling is

the ‘TreCase 1’ well site, not far from our survey
site 3 (Fig. 1). The inverted 1D layered model for
site 4, taking into account both the MT and the
TDEM data, is a four-layer model that agrees
with the stratigraphic sequence obtained from
the nearby well (Balducci et al., 1983) as shown
in Fig. 4a^c.
Compared to the stratigraphy of the ‘TreCase
1’ well, the 1D model identi¢es:
(1) a shallow, 500-m-thick, very resistive (1000
6m) layer coinciding with predominantly volcanic
materials (lava, tu¡, tu⁄tes, and pumices) ;
(2) a second layer, with a resistivity of 30 6m,
about 200 m thick, coincident with alternations of
sand, micritic limestone, quartz sandstone and sa-
nidine crystals ;
(3) a conductive (4 6m) 800-m-thick layer, co-
inciding with a zone of intercalated volcanic prod-
ucts and variable clayey siltstones;
(4) a resistive geoelectrical basement at a depth
of about 1500 m, coinciding with basal conglom-
erates and dolostones.
Fig. 5. (Top) Approximate resistivity section from 1D inver-
The individual site results from smooth (Con- sion for pro¢le A-AP. Occam inversion results are interpo-
stable et al., 1987) and rough layered earth inver- lated along the pro¢le, producing a pseudo-2D section,
sions of the rotationally invariant MT data are in although it was obtained by 1D modelling. 1D layered inver-
good agreement, and were interpolated to form sion results are shown as superimposed electrostratigraphic
the resistivity sections presented in Fig. 5 for pro- columns. (Bottom) Electrical 1D interpretation along pro¢le
B-BP in Fig. 1. Occam inversion results are interpolated
¢les A-AP and B-BP (see Fig. 1). The sections along the pro¢le, producing a pseudo-2D section, although it
show a widespread low-resistivity layer along the was obtained by 1D modelling. 1D layered inversion results
two pro¢les, and suggest that the four-layer mod- are shown as superimposed electrostratigraphic columns.

VOLGEO 2718 22-1-04

 A. Manzella et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 131 (2004) 19^32 27

greater than about one-half of a host skin depth,
the e¡ect of ¢nite strike is not signi¢cant. In our
case the skin depth related to a minimum fre-
quency of 1 Hz is about 1.5 km. Thus, we may
use a 2D inversion code (Rodi and Mackie, 2000)
to model our data. We have inverted the adopted
TM and TE mode MT data to yield 2D models of
the subsurface for one of the pro¢les and the re-
sults are summarised in Fig. 6a and b. The model
from the inversion of only TM mode MT data
(Fig. 6a) shows a north-dipping conductive struc-
ture below the resistive cover unit. The joint in-
version of data for both TM and TE modes
yielded a model (Fig. 6b) showing a clear di¡er-
ence between the caldera and the external sector
of the volcano : the shallower conductor inside the
caldera appears separated from the one external
to the caldera. We favour this joint model and
note that it is in good agreement with the pre-
vious models from DG and LOTEM data (Di

Fig. 6. 2D inversion modelling results for pro¢le A-AP. (a) TM mode model. (b) Joint TE-TM modes model.

VOLGEO 2718 22-1-04

28 A. Manzella et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 131 (2004) 19^32

Maio et al., 1998; Mu«ller et al., 1999). The con-
ductors correspond to the conductors detected by
LOTEM and are separated by a sharp disconti-
nuity. Moreover, the conductor below the caldera
is bounded by more resistive bodies, which corre-
spond to the resistive anomalies de¢ned by DG.
This discontinuity appears particularly strong on
the northeast, and the skew angle determined by
La Torraca decomposition would suggest that site
7 is close to the border of the strong conductor.
We have no data beyond sites 7 and 10 to con¢rm
this but the more extensive MT data of Di Maio
et al. (1998) show a very £at response and give no
evidence of a strong conductor in that area.
The new and pre-existing experimental data
therefore collectively imply that the known aqui-
fer hosted in the volcanic edi¢ce (Celico et al.,
1998; Federico et al., 2002) is not homogeneous,
and is particularly conductive on the southern
and western £anks of the volcano. This result is
in accordance with geochemical evidence of en-
hanced rock leaching in the western and south-
western £anks of Vesuvius where more saline
and warmer waters are present (Federico et al.,
2002).
Di Maio et al. (1998) (Fig. 7). However, if we
model the 2D structure determined by the sea
and the homogeneous medium hosting the con-
ductive body described above, we obtain a set of
curves very di¡erent from the experimental data
(Fig. 7). This observation is particularly striking
when we talk about deep structure, but the same
problem is evident in the analysis of our data. We
excluded the possibility that the distortion of
curves created by the coherent noise could pro-
duce the similarity between the two polarisation
modes. On the basis of our experience with MT
data acquired in similarly noisy areas, the galvan-
ic distortion e¡ect is preserved on the MT curves
distorted by coherent noise (Manzella et al.,
1999).

3.2. 3D modelling of shallow conductors

There is a general disagreement between our

model and the one derived from MT data in Di
Maio et al. (1998), where a shallow conductor was
not detected and an overall very resistive shallow
structure is depicted. Our correction of static shift
and the general agreement with hydrological con-
sideration lead us to believe that this is simply due
to a static shift a¡ecting the earlier MT data, and
that after correction all data would agree. More-
over, the results of 1D modelling of MT data in
Di Maio et al. (1998) do not agree with the re-
gional structure determined by the presence of the
sea at a distance of a few kilometres. The galvanic Fig. 7. Comparison of apparent resistivities and phases for a
distortion determined by the boundary of sea- site at a distance of 10 km from the coast, between the mod-
water produces a very strong e¡ect on MT curves, el response of a 1D model and that of a 2D model (TE and
and the two polarisation modes should di¡er. The TM mode). The resistivity structure of the 1D model consists
1D model of homogeneous structure having a re- of a hosting medium having a resistivity of 104 6m, and a
layer having a resistivity of 102 6m, at a depth of 8 km and
sistivity of 104 6m, hosting a conductive body at with a thickness of 3 km. The 2D model consists of the 1D
a depth of 8 km, determines a response that is model and a sea body having a resistivity of 0.3 6m and a
very similar to the one de¢ned by MT data in maximum thickness of 500 m.

VOLGEO 2718 22-1-04

 A. Manzella et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 131 (2004) 19^32 29

Even considering the MT data in Di Maio et al.
(1998) as static shifted, and all MT data, both old
and new, as a coherent set of data de¢ning the
shallow structure of the volcano, it is clear that
the galvanic distortion created by the sea is in
some way balanced by the e¡ect of a body of
¢nite length. The only body clearly de¢ned by
MT data is the shallow conductor. We therefore
investigated how the ¢nite strike of the shallow
conductor could a¡ect the MT data and could
balance the galvanic distortion created by the
sea. We calculated the surface response of 3D
models, between 102 and 1036 Hz, using the
code of Mackie et al. (1994) with modi¢cation
by Mackie and Booker (2000, personal communi-
cation). We found that the best ¢t with our ex-
perimental data was obtained for models in which
the shallow conductor was very limited in the di-
rection orthogonal to the coast, and was extended
along the coast. In Fig. 8 we show the response of
very similar models in which the shallow conduc-
tor has been given di¡erent extensions. The model
is a simpli¢ed sequence of volcanics, sedimentary
and crystalline basement, having resistivities of
800, 1000 and 5000 6m respectively. The Tyrrhe-
nian Sea is modelled as a conductive body whose
resistivity is 0.3 6m. The responses of three mod-
els are shown for sites at distances of 5, 10 and 15
km from the coast. In the three models the shal-
low conductor has the following extensions: (1) a
very broad extension, mimicking a 1D condition;
(2) a limited extension in the direction orthogonal
to the coast ; (3) a limited extension in the two
directions, orthogonal and parallel to the coast.
It is evident that the synthetic responses of model
2 are the most similar to experimental data. We
have determined that the eastern limit of the shal-
low conductor must be very close to our eastern-
most sites, and that the conductor must have a
strike extension of at least 20 km along the coast.

Fig. 8. Apparent resistivities and phases for three sites at distances of 5, 10 and 15 km from the coast, for three di¡erent models
(1D on the left, 2D at the centre, and 3D on the right. See text for explanation). Dashed line = TM mode, full line = TE mode.

VOLGEO 2718 22-1-04

30 A. Manzella et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 131 (2004) 19^32
4. Discussion: implications of the new conductivity
model
The detected presence of a shallow conductive
body underneath a resistive cover layer at Vesu-
vius agrees with earlier LOTEM (Mu«ller et al.,
1999) and DG data (Di Maio et al., 1998). The
LOTEM and DG data, which have better spatial
sampling and coverage than MT data, map a con-
tinuous structure inside the caldera volume. The
carbonate basement below the main Vesuvius
cone has been detected at a depth of 2000 m bsl
and the intra-caldera rocks were de¢ned by many
authors as highly fractured and a¡ected by an
intense, probably hydrothermal, £uid circulation
(e.g. Ventura and Vilardo, 1999 and references
therein). On the basis of total £uid pressures, geo-
chemical data have de¢ned a hydrothermal reser-
voir located between 1.3 and 2.2 km bgl, which
corresponds to a depth of 0^1 km bsl (Chiodini et
al., 2001). This depth is very close to the esti-
mated depth of the conductor obtained with elec-
tromagnetic methods.
In order to interpret the possible nature of the
conductor outside the caldera we take into ac-
count the hydrological data, which de¢ne in the
area a shallow volcanic aquifer hosted by frac-
tured lavas and pyroclastic deposits (Celico et
al., 1998; Federico et al., 2002). The geometry
of this aquifer mimics the morphology of the vol-
cano itself. The £ow lines follow a radial pattern,
being shallower close to the caldera rim and deep-
ening with the distance from the top of the vol-
canic edi¢ce. The aquifer has an estimated thick-
ness of 600 m and its bottom corresponds to the
clayey marine deposits interbedded with the vol-
canics that form an impermeable basement. Both
the aquifer and the clayey deposits are conduc-
tive; hence, they are detected by MT data as a
single geoelectrical unit. Our MT data ¢t very well
the depth of this aquifer in the areas where both
MT and hydrological data are present. Following
Federico et al. (2002) the aquifer is somehow in-
terconnected to the hydrothermal £uids circulat-
ing beneath the caldera. The barrier between the
two regions, i.e. outside and inside the caldera,
is possibly represented by the resistive bodies de-
¢ned by the DG model of Di Maio et al. (1998),
VOLGEO 2718 22-1-04
which could allow the exchange of £uids to some
extent.
In summary, the strong resistivity variations
within a depth of 2 km could be related to two
main conditions:
(1) changes in the chemical-physical parameters
of the volcanic cover caused by fracturing, frac-
ture ¢lling, porosity, hydrothermal £uid circula-
tion and a transition from volcanic to subvolcanic
structures;
(2) circulation of water inside an aquifer and
presence of clay behaving as an impermeable
basement to the aquifer itself.
Probably both conditions are valid and coexist
here. Hydrothermal circulation and the ¢rst con-
dition in particular are probably the main cause
underneath the caldera, whereas the second con-
dition could explain the features observed in the
southern sector of the investigated area, close to
the well.
5. Conclusions
MT and TDEM methods have been applied in
the investigation of an active volcanic area of Mt
Somma-Vesuvius to de¢ne its shallow and deep
electrical features. At frequencies lower than
1 Hz the MT data appear biased by a coherent
noise, which limited model resolution and pre-
vented any imaging of the deep volcanic appara-
tus. 2D inversion of selected subsets of the MT
data resolve a low-resistivity (3^10 6m) layer at a
depth of a few hundred metres below the ground
surface. This shallow conductor correlates with
the one already detected in previous geoelectrical
and electromagnetic investigations and is inter-
preted as being the result of physico-chemical var-
iations at the depth at which alteration paragen-
eses and the presence of £uids reduce the
resistivity of rocks more than lithological varia-
tions.
The deep resistivity structure still remains un-
known. However, the 3D numerical modelling
study presented here has shown that the presence
of the sea and of the warm and saline aquifer
strongly in£uence the MT response. Moreover,
the area is too noisy for the application of tradi-
 A. Manzella et al. / Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 131 (2004) 19^32
tional acquisition and processing of single-site
MT data. In order to unravel the deep resistivity
structure of the Vesuvius area, we recommend :
(1) acquisition of broadband MT data using re-
mote-reference and sophisticated data processing
techniques so as to minimise cultural noise prob-
lems in the low-frequency band; (2) acquisition of
TDEM or analogous data and use decomposed
MT data in order to remove the e¡ect of local
galvanic distortion; (3) full-domain three-dimen-
sional modelling and sensitivity analysis of the
very complex setting of Vesuvius, and considering
the e¡ects of important regional structures.
This study has shown that the combined TEM-
MT approach could make a useful contribution
towards our understanding of the electrical con-
ductivity structure and subsurface £uid processes
at Vesuvius, but that there is a strong cultural
noise problem in the area which must be taken
into account in any MT survey design.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful to Jim Kauahikaua, Kiyoshi
Fujita and an anonymous reviewer for their help-
ful comments on the manuscript. We also thank
Claudio Corsi, Nicola Praticelli, Giampaolo Gir-
ardi and Paul Denton for their help during the
¢eldwork, and Marnell Dickson for proof-reading
the original manuscript. This research was ¢nan-
cially supported by a grant from GNV (Gruppo
Nazionale per la Vulcanologia, i.e. National
Group of Volcanology).
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