Posted on 08/26/2013 10:44:07 AM PDT by Red Badger
Italian experts have been puzzled by the overnight appearance of a geyser crater spraying clouds of gas 15 feet in the air, yards from the end of the runway at one of Europe's busiest airports.
Motorists on Saturday were alarmed to notice hot, stinking gas spurting from a newly formed crater in the middle of a roundabout close to the perimeter fence of Rome's Fiumicino airport -- less than 900 yards from the end of a runway.
Spectators gathered around the smoking crater, which measured about six feet wide and three feet deep, before firefighters and vulcanologists arrived to seal off the roundabout to prevent inhalation of the gas, suspected to be a cocktail of carbon dioxide, hydrogen sulphide and methane. Tests are now underway.
While initial reports suggested the gas came from rotting organic matter trapped underground, one expert said volcanic activity was more likely.
"From Mount Etna in Sicily up to the Alban hills around Rome there is a good deal of underground volcanic activity," Alberto Basili, a seismologist at the Italian National Institute for Geophysics and Vulcanology, told the Daily Telegraph.
The area covers Mount Vesuvius, which buried the Roman city of Pompeii when it erupted in 79AD, to a number of lakes formed in extinct volcanoes north of Rome.
"Gas underground can remain hot for tens of thousands of years after volcanoes erupt, and every now and then it can rise to the surface from miles underground," said Mr Basili.
"We have seen things like this elsewhere around Rome, with farm animals being killed after they breath in the gas," he said.
Despite being a stone's throw from the end of a main runway at Fiumicino, Europe's sixth largest airport, which handles 37 million passengers a year, Mr Basili said there was no cause for fear over flight safety. "This is a limited phenomenon - it will not have created alarm at the airport," he said.
The crater measured about six feet wide and three feet deep.
Isn’t this how PooPooCaterpillar started in Mexico?
A fascinating piece of geologic history- it started as a tiny thing in a farmer’s field a few decades ago, and within (weeks, months?) it was hundreds of feet high.
Interesting, but underwhelming, given the “volcanic” reference.
Isn't that an oxymoron? lol
Parícutin?
In the first day, it became a became over a 150’ tall cone the eruptions. It wasn’t just gas.
http://www.mnh.si.edu/onehundredyears/expeditions/Paricutin.html
According to legend..............
After little more than a day the cone was already 50 meters high (164 feet), and within a week it had reached 150 meters (nearly 500 feet).
Pompeii II
According to paleomagnetic studies, the volcano is about 730,000 years old. Since you were discussing how it started, I thought you meant one we had witnessed in history.
Pompeii 1.01..........
..not nice.
popocat-a-petal (PHONIC SPELLING) is located between Mexico City and Puebla. Its on a huge mountain range.
The one that formed in the farmers field is located west of Mexico City.
Ask me how I know? Ever taken a taxi from Puebla to the Mex City airport? I have.....
Thack,
You are correct! Got my spewing mountains mixed up!
My biggest surprise visiting Yellowstone for the first time was how much many areas stank from the sulfide gas. Still love the park, but it sure is smelly in many areas.
Easy mistake. One smelly gas spewing hole looks much like the rest...........
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