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A supervolcano caused the largest eruption in European history. Now it’s stirring again.
Washington Post ^ | 12/21/2016 | Sarah Kaplan

Posted on 12/22/2016 7:41:58 PM PST by JimSEA

The Italian name for the caldera — Campi Flegrei, or “burning fields”— is apt. The 7.5-mile-wide cauldron is the collapsed top of an ancient volcano, formed when the magma within finally blew. Though half of it is obscured beneath the crystal blue waters of the Mediterranean, the other half is studded with cinder cones and calderas from smaller eruptions. And the whole area seethes with hydrothermal activity: Sulfuric acid spews from active fumaroles; geysers spout water and steam and the ground froths with boiling mud; and earthquake swarms shudder through the region, 125 miles south of Rome.

And things seem to be heating up. Writing in the journal Nature Communications on Tuesday, scientists report that the caldera is nearing a critical point at which decreased pressure on rising magma triggers a runaway release of gas and fluid, potentially leading to an eruption.

Forecasting volcanic eruptions is a famously dicey endeavor, and right now, it's impossible to say if and when Campi Flegrei might erupt, according to lead author Giovanni Chiodini, a volcanologist at the National Institute of Geophysics in Rome. But now more than ever, the caldera demands attention: An eruption would be devastating to the 500,000 people living in and around it.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; History; Science
KEYWORDS: archiflegreovolcano; aurignacian; campania; campanianignimbrite; campiflegrei; catastrophism; chatelperronian; eruption; geology; giovannichiodini; italy; mediterranean; mousterian; naples; paleolithic; phlegraeanfields; uluzzian; volcanism; volcano; volcanoes
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This has been building for a long time. Hard to tell if it's near a critical point.
1 posted on 12/22/2016 7:41:59 PM PST by JimSEA
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To: JimSEA

Women, children and Muslim refugees hardest hit.


2 posted on 12/22/2016 7:43:26 PM PST by ClearCase_guy (Abortion is what slavery was: immoral but not illegal. Not yet.)
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To: JimSEA

Wikipedia page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phlegraean_Fields#More_recent_history


3 posted on 12/22/2016 7:44:09 PM PST by PghBaldy (12/14 - 930am -rampage begins... 12/15 - 1030am - Obama's advance team scouts photo-op locations.)
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To: JimSEA

An eruption would stop global warming.


4 posted on 12/22/2016 7:47:21 PM PST by Timpanagos1
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To: JimSEA

An eruption would stop global warming.


5 posted on 12/22/2016 7:47:39 PM PST by Timpanagos1
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To: PghBaldy

Another “small eruption” does seem likely. Naples is like living in the Yellowstone caldera.


6 posted on 12/22/2016 7:49:10 PM PST by JimSEA
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To: JimSEA
And the whole area seethes with hydrothermal activity: Sulfuric acid spews from active fumaroles; geysers spout water and steam and the ground froths with boiling mud; and earthquake swarms shudder through the region, 125 miles south of Rome.

Prophecy of the Popes

"The prophecies conclude with a pope identified as "Peter the Roman", whose pontificate will allegedly precede the destruction of the city of Rome."

7 posted on 12/22/2016 7:49:19 PM PST by amorphous
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To: amorphous

Better than Frances the Argentine.


8 posted on 12/22/2016 7:50:52 PM PST by JimSEA
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To: PghBaldy

My own suspicion is that until there is a positive formation on top of the caldera (i.e. a stratovolcano), you won’t get a super-eruption. I really don’t think you can get a super-eruption out of a caldera proper.


9 posted on 12/22/2016 7:51:50 PM PST by chb
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To: Timpanagos1

An eruption of this volcano could spew enough volcanic ash to than just stop global warming—the fear is a major eruption that could block out much of the light from the Sun for at least a year. And that’s the conditions necessary to trigger off another Ice Age.


10 posted on 12/22/2016 7:54:54 PM PST by RayChuang88 (FairTax: America's economic cure)
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To: RayChuang88

Just like in 1815-1816.

The year without a summer.


11 posted on 12/22/2016 8:00:55 PM PST by Timpanagos1
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To: RayChuang88

Ragnarok. My Norse ancestors were right after all... ;-)


12 posted on 12/22/2016 8:01:16 PM PST by Dead Corpse (A Psalm in napalm...)
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To: JimSEA
Better than Frances the Argentine.

You mean Jorge Mario Bergoglio?, who is most certianly of Italian decent, and all popes are symbolic descendants of Peter"

Hence, "Peter the Roman"... ;)

13 posted on 12/22/2016 8:02:54 PM PST by amorphous
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To: RayChuang88

“And that’s the conditions necessary to trigger off another Ice Age.”

Not really. It could make for a hard year or two but that’s it. For an ice age to trigger, the sun needs to cooperate with reduced output.


14 posted on 12/22/2016 8:06:38 PM PST by Grimmy (equivocation is but the first step along the road to capitulation)
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To: JimSEA
A side benefit is that the tephra (ash) in the area makes the most amazing cement and concrete in the world.

"Ceterum censeo Islam esse delendam."

Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)

LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)

15 posted on 12/22/2016 8:32:33 PM PST by LonePalm (Commander and Chef)
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To: chb

I lived near this area in Licola, it is a great if one is a geologist because there is so much going on. From all sorts of volcanic and seismic activity to landslides, it was very interesting.


16 posted on 12/22/2016 8:38:29 PM PST by phormer phrog phlyer
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To: phormer phrog phlyer

They could stop it by sacrificing a virgin. Houston I think we have a problem!


17 posted on 12/22/2016 8:47:22 PM PST by oldasrocks (rump)
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To: amorphous

Hence, “Peter the Roman”... ;)

Or loosely translated as that dick Italian from Argentina...

G-d forgive me


18 posted on 12/22/2016 9:27:47 PM PST by teeman8r (Armageddon won't be pretty, but it's not like it's the end of the world.)
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To: teeman8r

If my understanding of those prophecies are correct, the next Pope will be very traditional and very staunch and will use the power invested in him fully.


19 posted on 12/22/2016 11:42:27 PM PST by Jonty30 (What Islam and secularism have in common is that they are both death cults)
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To: JimSEA
"There are written accounts of the 1538 eruption, but there are limits to the scientific insight those descriptions they provide."

A rough translation from a recovered piece of parchment: "Mama mia, she blowed up real good."

20 posted on 12/22/2016 11:54:10 PM PST by Enterprise ("Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities." Voltaire)
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