2023-10-05 14:19:06
View from the west over the Phlegraean Fields: in the foreground the crater rim of Monte Nuovo, behind it the town of Pozzuoli. On the horizon you can see the double peaks of Vesuvius. Image: ddp
The Phlegraean Fields, a vast volcanic area on the outskirts of Naples, are back in the headlines. The region has been shaken by small earthquakes for some time – most recently this Monday. Is there a risk of an outbreak?
“Super volcano near Naples is stirring”, “Researchers warn of eruption at super volcano in Italy” or: “Italy’s super volcano about to mega-eruption?”. These are three of many similar headlines that appeared on media reports in mid-June informing readers of one on June 9th in Communications Earth & Environment published specialist articles experience. It was written by the British volcanologist Christopher Kilburn from University College London and three of his Italian colleagues, and it is about the mechanics of the earth’s crust in the Phlegraean Fields near Naples: Since 2020, it has no longer reacted elastically to deformations. What does that mean and does it justify the anxious headlines?
Ulf von Rauchhaupt
Editor in the “Science” department of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung.
After all, none of them make a false statement – if only because it wasn’t a statement at all, but a question. There’s nothing wrong with the word “supervolcano” either. The Phlegraean Fields actually once staged an eruption, the ashes of which can still be found on the Volga. Between 126 and 146 cubic kilometers of magma were thrown up at that time. Above a hundred cubic kilometers, an eruption is graded a seven on the eight-point Volcanic Explosiveness Index, or VEI, scale. Then volcanologists also speak of a super eruption.
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