This volume aims at providing answers to some puzzling questions concerning the formation and the behavior of collapse calderas by exploring our current understanding of these complex geological processes. Addressed are problems such as:- How do collapse calderas form? - What are the conditions to create fractures and slip along them to initiate caldera collapse and when are these conditions fulfilled? - How do these conditions relate to explosive volcanism?- Most products of large caldera-forming eruptions show evidence for pre-eruptive reheating. Is this a pre-requisite to produce large volume eruptions and large calderas?- What are the time-scales behind caldera processes? - How long does it take magma to reach conditions ripe enough to generate a caldera-forming eruption?- What is the mechanical behavior of magma chamber walls during caldera collapse? Elastic, viscoelastic, or rigid? - Do calderas form by underpressure following a certain level of magma withdrawal from a reservoir, or by magma chamber loading due to deep doming (underplating), or both?- How to interpret unrest signals in active caldera systems?- How can we use information from caldera monitoring to forecast volcanic phenomena?In the form of 14 contributions from various disciplines this book samples the state-of-the-art of caldera studies and identifies still unresolved key issues that need dedicated cross-boundary and multidisciplinary efforts in the years to come.* International contributions from leading experts* Updates and informs on all the latest developments* Highlights hot topic areas and identifies and analyzes unresolved key issues

Preface (J. Gottsmann, J. Martí). 1. Residence times of silicic magmas associated with calderas (F. Costa). 2. Sedimentology, depositional mechanisms and pulsating behaviour of pyroclastic density currents (R. Sulpizio, P. Dellino). 3. The use of lithic clast distributions in pyroclastic deposits to understand pre- and syn-caldera collapse processes; a case study of the Abrigo Ignimbrite, Tenerife, Canary Islands (A. Pittari, et al). 4. The Ignimbrite Flare-up and graben-calderas of the Sierra Madre Occidental, Mexico (G. J. Aguirre-Díaz et al). 5. Characterisation of Archean subaqueous calderas in Canada: physical volcanology, carbonate-rich hydrothermal alteration and a new exploration model (W. U. Mueller et al). 6. A review on collapse caldera modelling (J. Martí et al). 7. Structural development of calderas: a synthesis from analogue experiments (V. Acocella). 8. Magma-chamber geometry, fluid transport, local stresses, and rock behaviour during collapse-caldera formation (A. Gudmundsson). 9. Facilitating dyke intrusions into ring-faults (T. R. Walter). 10. A new uplift episode at Campi Flegrei caldera (Southern Italy): implications for unrest interpretation and eruption hazard evaluation (C. Troise et al). 11. Hydrothermal fluid circulation and its effect on caldera unrest (M. Todesco). 12. Deciphering causes of unrest at explosive collapse calderas: Recent advances and future challenges of joint time-lapse gravimetric and ground deformation studies (J. Gottsmann, M. Battaglia). 13. The failure forecast method: review and application for the real-time detection of precursory patterns at reawakening volcanoes (M. Tárraga et al). 14. Perspectives on the application of the geostatistical approach to volcano forecasting at different time scales (R. Carniel, O. Jaquet, M. Tárraga).