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 Super volcano awakening in Italy? 
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Post Super volcano awakening in Italy?
It looks like we may be in for an earth-shattering explosion. A dormant super volcano appears to be stirring under the Phlegraen Fields of Naples in Italy. Rising soil temperatures and surface deformation in the area have alarmed seismologists. In the distant past, volcanic super eruptions caused global climate change responsible for mass extinctions of plant and animal species.

So far, scientists are unable to model the potential consequences of an awakening super volcano.

Latest studies show that the Phlegraen Fields have actually been swelling above sea level at a rate of 3 cm per month. Micro quakes and large amounts of gases accumulated in soil indicate that the volcano may be preparing to erupt, says Vladimir Kiryanov, Assistant Professor of Geology at the St. Petersburg University.

"The Phlegraen Fields are a super volcano. Yellowstone in the United States and Toba in Indonesia are also super volcanoes capable of spewing more than 1,000 cubic km of magma. These are catastrophic eruptions. There was a huge volcanic eruption in the Phlegraen Fields some 30,000-40,000 years ago. Volcanic ash from that eruption is still found in the Mediterranean, Bulgaria, Ukraine, and even in Russia. We are now seeing the expansion of a magma pocket, which means that there might be an eruption at a certain time."

Super eruptions of such magnitude may produce the so-called “volcanic winter” effect when sulfur gases and ash will reach the stratosphere and cover the globe with thick ash clouds that solar rays will be unable to penetrate. Condensed sulfur trioxides will react with moisture, forming sulfuric acid. Downpours of sulfuric acid will hit the Earth. Scientists have obtained new evidence of a similar cataclysm following the eruption of the Toba super volcano on island of Sumatra in Indonesia about 74,000 years ago. But today, things promise to be even more devastating. Suffice it to recall the havoc wreaked by a minor increase in volcanic activity in Iceland in 2010 on air transportation over Europe.

More here: http://english.ruvr.ru/2013_01_30/Super ... -in-Italy/

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Fri Feb 01, 2013 8:15 am
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Post Re: Super volcano awakening in Italy?
A bit more confirmation:

Quote:
However, in addition to the detected ground deformation, scientists also measured increased numbers of micro earthquakes, a rise in temperature and in particular, an increase in the proportion of the gases of magmatic origin at fumaroles in the Solfatara crater.

As the hydrothermal system is closely connected with the underlying complex magma chamber of the Phlegrean Fields, new magma movements could in fact be the culprit for the observed changes. Whether these, and if so when, will lead to a new volcanic eruption is currently uncertain.

A much larger increase of such observed changes should probably be expected if in fact should new volcanic activity was to announce itself.


Read more here: http://www.volcanodiscovery.com/phlegrean-fields/news/26129/Campi-Flegrei-caldera-Italy-increase-in-uplift-and-temperature-as-possible-signs-of-magma-ascent.html

I don't know about you - but anytime a scientific article uses the words "should probably" well, 'nuff said. :shock:

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Fri Feb 01, 2013 11:10 am
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