"Explosive" calderas are collapse structures that form during evacuation of large magma volumes. Some old calderas host ore deposits, while young structures are potential sites for geothermal energy exploitation. Understanding how and when these calderas form and evolve through time is thus of importance when considering the links between geological setting, magmatic-volcanic context, and resulting economic resources.

The European continent in its broad sense has witnessed successive orogenic events that were all accompanied by substantial magmatism and volcanism, including ignimbrite emplacement and caldera formation. As a result, Europe and nearby countries host a diversity of caldera types and associated eruptive products. Ancient (Precambrian to Paleozoic in age) dismantled caldera structures and their altered and metamorphized deposits occur as cauldron (e.g. in Scotland, Corsica etc.), exposing the deeper roots of old collapse systems. Younger structures of Mesozoic to Cenozoic ages (e.g. those associated to the diachronic closure of western Tethys Ocean in the Alps, The Carpathian etc.) show the eroded, fractured-tectonized upper levels of caldera systems. Most recent calderas of quaternary age (e.g. Italy, Greece) exhibit pristine collapse structures along with their associated tephra products, and some of them show geophysical evidence of ongoing activity at depth (e.g. Campi Flegrei, Santorini).

The session aims at documenting, analyzing, discussing the structure and history of these caldera systems, in order to better understand the main processes that control their formation and evolution through time, notably in Europe and nearby countries. We call for contributions from scientists working on all aspects of caldera genesis and history: geology, volcanology (including petrology and geochemistry, pyroclastic studies etc.), geophysics, numerical and analog modellings etc. The session will put emphasis on European case-studies, but all contributions dealing will calderas and their economic potential are also welcome.