As of: March 10, 2024, 11:19 a.m
By: Johannes Welte
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A new swarm earthquake shakes the supervolcano in the west of Naples.
The strongest shock had a magnitude of 3.4 in the Bagnoli district, which was already severely shaken in 2023.
Naples/Pozzuoli – The supervolcano in the west of Naples is becoming more and more active.
Since Saturday evening (March 2nd), a series of earthquakes has been shaking the area of the Phlegraean Fields in southern Italy - a supervolcano with a diameter of 26 kilometers that erupted devastatingly three times during the Ice Age.
By March 3rd, 4 p.m. Central European Time, 27 tremors had been recorded by the seismographs.
Supervolcano in Italy: 27 tremors in 24 hours
On March 2nd at 11 p.m., a relatively violent shock occurred with a magnitude of 1.7, which was reported by 187 citizens to the National Institute of Geology and Volcano Research INGV.
This shock occurred at the eastern foot of the Solfatara crater in the area of the port city of Pozzuoli.
Five minutes earlier there had already been a magnitude 1.3 shock in the same region.
Today (Sunday) morning at 10 a.m. there was a violent blow with a magnitude of 3.4 in the Neapolitan suburb of Bagnoli.
The epicenter was 2.94 kilometers directly below the beach.
The two larger shocks that night occurred at a depth of just 1.8 kilometers.
All tremors occurred in the vicinity of the Solfatara crater.
The last strong earthquake also occurred in Bagnoli in October 2023.
© IMAGO/IPA/ABACA
The most severe tremors are concentrated in a small area
“The seismic event was clearly felt in large parts of the city of Naples,” writes
napolitoiday.it
about the violent shock that morning.
“According to the first witness statements, there were two tremors that were very close to each other, only a few seconds apart, and both were particularly strong, although the trace from the INGV seismographs seems to squeeze them into a single event.” On September 27, 2023, There had already been a violent shock of magnitude 4.2 in Bagnoli, and four days later there was another earthquake there, this time with a magnitude of 4.0.
The most violent earthquake occurred in the Bay of Bagnoli © IMAGO/xGiuseppe83693x
Supervolcano had actually calmed down again - now it's starting again
Parts of the facade fell onto the street, people fled outside in panic, some spent the night in their cars.
The situation then calmed down until the earthquakes began to increase again in January.
27 tremors were recorded on Saturday.
Citizens are reporting on Facebook that there is an increased smell of sulfur in the air, and CO₂ outgassing from the Phlegraean fields is also increasing.
The steam clouds over the hot springs have also been thicker in recent weeks than they have been for a long time.
Videos show how it steams there.
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Mayor speaks of “normal activity”
The mayor of Pozzuoli, Gigi Manzoni, tells
pozzuolinews24.it
that no damage has been reported following the recent quakes.
He tries to reassure: “The tremor this morning is part of the normal activity of this phase of bradyseismos.” This refers to the phenomenon of the earth's surface rising in the Phlegraean fields.
“The epicenter was right on the border with the municipality of Naples and we are in constant contact with the Vesuvius Observatory, which is currently not reporting any significant developments in Bradeisism,” said Manzoni.
The ground has risen like never before since measurements began
In fact, there had already been uplift phases in the 70s and 80s that were accompanied by earthquakes.
In 1984 Pozzuoli was evacuated.
However, the ground in the port city has now risen 27.5 centimeters higher than it was back then.
Since 2011, the ground has risen 116 centimeters.
Scientists warned of a possible eruption of the supervolcano last year.
The residents are once again afraid: “The terror is back, especially among the children,” writes one Facebook user.
He also shows pictures of cracks in the ceiling.