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‘Sleeping’ supervolcano under Europe could be stirring, scientists warn

Picture AFP
Picture AFP

A supervolcano which slumbers under the Italian city of Naples could be reawakening – and might be near a critical pressure point.

Italian scientists have warned that it’s possible the volcano could be building up to a ‘very dangerous’ eruption for the 500,000 people living inside or near the volcano’s caldera.

The Campi Flegrei caldera was formed 39,000 years ago – in the largest eruption in Europe in the past 200,000 years.

It last erupted in 1538.

Since 2005, the volcano has been undergoing what scientists describe as ‘uplift’ – and Italian authorities raised the alert level to yellow in 2012.

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Giovanni Chiodini, a researcher at Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Bologna, said that the volcano could be nearing a point where rising lava triggers a release of fluids and gases.

Chiodini said ‘Hydrothermal rocks, if heated, can ultimately lose their mechanical resistance, causing an acceleration towards critical conditions.

Naples Picture Getty
Naples Picture Getty

Chiodini says it is not possible to say whether the volcano will erupt – or when – but says there is an urgent need to understand it better.