Italy Supervolcano Near Mount Vesuvius May Erupt Soon According To Scientists
A supervolcano near Mount Vesuvius may be ready to erupt according to scientists. Campi Flegrei, located just west of the Italian city of Naples is believed to be building up magma after being dormant for nearly half a millennium.
Lying mostly underwater, the large volcanic area consists of 24 craters and volcanic edifices. Researchers studying the caldera have pinpointed the location of a "hot-zone" feeding magma to the supervolcano. This could prove crucial in predicting where the eruption could occur not just in Campi Flegrei but other supervolcanoes as well.
The volcano has been relatively quiet since the 1980's when the injection of either magma or fluids in the shallower structure of the volcano caused a series of minor tremors. While experts cannot determine how this will affect the scale of its next eruption, there's no doubt that the volcano is getting dangerous.
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According to Dr. Luca De Siena, lead author of the study, one of the questions that have puzzled scientists is the location of the magma beneath the caldera. Now, their study provides the first evidence of a hot zone under the city of Pozzuoli that extends into the sea at a depth of 4 km (2.4 miles).
While the area could be the location of a small batch of magma, Dr. De Siena says it could also be the heated fluid-filled top of a wider magma chamber located even deeper. Their study reveals that magma was prevented from reaching the surface by a 1 to 2 km-deep (0.6 to 1.2 mile-deep) rock formation that blocked its path causing it to instead follow a lateral path.
This blockage caused the small earthquakes in the 1980's and since there has been very little seismic activity, the magma could have very well found a path near the surface. According to Dr. De Siena, Campi Flegrei can now be described as a boiling pot of soup beneath the surface.
The Naples metropolitan area is currently home to 3,115,320 people.
