Danger in Naples: Volcano Campi Flegrei awakens

Science Adina Camarasu
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Campi Flegrei volcano, located near the Italian city of Naples, gives signals of reactivation and would reach the closest step to resuming its volcanic activity, according to a new study quoted by The Guardian newspaper website.

French and Italian researchers have identified for the first time the limit beyond which magma rises before generating a release of ten times more fluids and gasses.

‘This could cause the induction of high-temperature steam into the rocks’, said Giovanni Chiodini, a researcher at the National Institute of Volcanology and Geophysics in Bologna.

‘If the hydrothermal rocks are heated, they can eventually lose strength, causing an acceleration of critical conditions’, he added.

He said that it is not possible to set a date of the eruption, but added ‘it would be very dangerous if it occurs’. Around 500,000 people are currently living near the old crater.

Chiodini stated it is urgently necessary to understand the behavior of the volcano because of the risk that could affect the population living in the nearby areas.

In 2012, the Italian authorities launched a code yellow warning in order to signal the need for active scientific monitoring of the volcano. Back then, the volcanic activity level was intensified, raising the risk of an eruption.

Campi Flegrei is approaching a critical pressure point, according to a study published on Tuesday.

Campi Flegrei is the only supervolcano in Europe which moves and raises the land that covers it with a few centimeters per year, apparently preparing for a super-eruption.

Located in the western part of Naples, Flegreean volcanic field was included in a protected natural reservation in 2003 and is mostly under water.

For this reason, it is the most dangerous volcano in Europe, but cannot filch the title from Etna, the largest volcano, and its 3,350 meters altitude.