Drilling through an active caldera, offshore Campi Flegrei, Eastern Tyrrhenian margin

The study of volcanic continental margins and/or island arc volcanism is fundamental in the understanding of Solid Earth cycles and geodynamics. In the past decades, with a few exceptions, ODP and DSDP have realized only a limited exploration of volcanic continental margins. However, since the advent of Mission Specific Platforms, in 2003, IODP has broadened its range of strategies and actions and offshore drilling has expanded to fully include continental margins, which are among the principal loci of the populated Earth for natural resources and geohazards. In particular, knowledge of volcanic hazards has become a dominant issue for the scientific and social community worldwide. Active calderas are major volcanic features of the Earth's crust associated with shallow magma reservoirs, high geothermal gradients, and geodynamic unrest often documented through historical time. Because explosive caldera-forming eruptions are also among the most catastrophic geologic events that may affect the Earth's surface, calderas are ostensibly the sites of major interest for both scientists and governmental in stitutions worldwide. The Campi Flegrei caldera, located on the Campania coast, west of the town of Naples, Italy, represents an ideal natural laboratory for a strictly coordinated IODP-ICDP research addressed to the understanding of the most explosive volcanism on the Earth, and its impact on a densely populated area.