Earth's supervolcanoes are waking up. Here's what that means for the planet

Earth’s biggest and deadliest volcanoes are waking up. And they could deliver a colossal eruption at any moment.



Photo credit: Getty Images

Bill McGuire
Published: September 14, 2024 at 10:00 pm

Something volcanic is stirring close to the Italian city of Naples and it has nothing to do with the looming presence of Mount Vesuvius. Another volcano lurks close by, one that’s much harder to spot, but potentially far more dangerous than its neighbouring cousin. And it’s getting restive.

Rather than forming a peak, the Campi Flegrei volcano is marked by a 13km-wide (8 miles) giant crater, or caldera, formed following colossal eruptions during prehistoric times. It’s the closest thing we have to a supervolcano in Europe and it sits directly beneath the port town of Pozzuoli, just to the west of Naples.

Campi Flegrei's biggest eruption, which happened 36,000 years ago, wasn’t quite large enough to qualify as ‘super’, but it was still Europe’s greatest volcanic blast in at least 200,000 years. It dumped ash across the Mediterranean region and spawned a bitter volcanic winter across eastern Europe, with temperatures reduced by up to 9°C (16.2°F).

There have been plenty of smaller eruptions since the last big one 15,000 years ago (the most recent was in 1538), and the area teems with small craters, vents, hot springs and bubbling pools.

More:
https://www.sciencefocus.com/planet-earth/earths-supervolcanoes-are-waking-up-heres-what-that-means-for-the-planet