The large volcanic district of Italy has entered the preparatory phase of the eruption

Experts say the release of magma can occur in hundreds and thousands of years, without specifying the exact period.

Live fossils

An international team of scientists from Switzerland, the United Kingdom and Italy analyzed the materials formed after previous eruptions of the Phlegraean fields (Campi Flegrei). Based on these data, they concluded that volcanoes in the region were once again preparing for a massive eruption, but this formation can take hundreds of years. The paper was published in the newspaper Progress of science.

Only the researchers examined 23 eruptions of the phlegraean fields, the most recent of which occurred in 1538. Thanks to him, formed a mountain called Monte Nuovo, which is located in southern Italy, near Naples, but even this eruption is derisory compared to the previous one.

The major release took place 39 million years ago and was named super eruption of the phlegraean fields. After him, on Europe and greatly increased the amount of sulfur: it is absorbed and scattered sunlight, causing temperatures in this region decreased by 5-10 degrees Celsius. Volcanic rocks covered a territory of 3.7 million square kilometers. The ash layer reached one meter from southern Italy to Romania. Anthropologists believe that this eruption was one of the main causes of Neanderthal extinction.

Periods of phlegrean field eruption / © Science Advances

The authors combined a thermomechanical petrological fire model to determine how the field of the magmatic system moves from minor and frequent eruptions. They discovered that the magma is saturated with water and carbon dioxide and was published in 1538, the same one that preceded the super eruption. In their opinion, these discoveries prove that the sub-volcanic phlegrean field system has entered a new phase of capacity building. A new, powerful eruption is likely to result in the future, but it is impossible to pinpoint the timing in the timeline.

Previously, scientists at the University of Colorado, based on the study of the geological structure of Mars, had suggested that four billion years ago, the conditions of the red planet resembled a Caliente lagoon located in the Poas volcano. Under these conditions, they found a genus of bacteria Acidiphilium. If on Mars there were four billion years, she would have been in the same conditions.