Campi Flegrei Supervolcano Update; A New Seismic Crisis May be Underway

The largest earthquake to strike the Campi Flegrei supervolcano in 40 years occurred, coinciding with a sudden increase in ground deformation. This video explains what this all means, and gives some historical context on similar circumstances which have occurred 3 other times since 1950.

Note: Some people do not consider Campi Flegrei to be a supervolcano. However, this video calls Campi Flegrei as a supervolcano because several scientific papers call this complex a supervolcano.

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Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google & Data Providers

Various licenses used in sections of this video (not the entire video, this video as a whole does not completely fall under one of these licenses) and/or in this video's thumbnail image:

Sources/Citations:
[1] INGV
[4] Giudicepietro, Flora & Macedonio, Giovanni & Martini, Marcello. (2017). A Physical Model of Sill Expansion to Explain the Dynamics of Unrest at Calderas with Application to Campi Flegrei. Frontiers in Earth Science. 5. 10.3389/feart.2017.00054. CC BY 4.0
[5] Amoruso, Antonella & Crescentini, Luca & D'Antonio, M. & Acocella, Valerio. (2017). Thermally-assisted Magma Emplacement Explains Restless Calderas. Scientific Reports. 7. 10.1038/s41598-017-08638-y., CC BY 4.0

YouTube Creative Commons video clips (CC BY 3.0 license):

0:00 Campi Flegrei
2:15 Seismic Crises
3:26 Campi Flegrei Cycle
4:00 Conclusion

[GeologyHub]

I want to note that the uplift rate described in this video's thumbnail image will only hold true if it continues at this same rate for a full year. Campi Flegrei has only experienced a little more than two weeks of this increased (stated in the thumbnail) uplift rate, which could (theoretically) drop back to "normal" uplift levels or continue at the same approximate rate.

[Ifyoucanreadthisgooglebroke]

Italy's willingness to built right on top of volcanoes is awesome. Icelanders may be the vikings who went off to live on the island with all the volcanoes, and Indonesians simply have nowhere to go that isn't near a volcano, but it is the Italians who look at the volcano and say "looks fun, build right there."

[gwendolenshepard]

It is amazing that something that most of us regards a unmoving, the ground, is not static. Earthquakes and volcanoes remind us that the Earth continues to re-contour.

[DamocleUwU]

I currently live 27 km (16 miles) away from campi flegrei i felt around 5/6 different little eartquake in the last 2 weeks, one even moved my windows.
Thank you for the update

[ozne_]

There are other, more subtle dangers in the area : recently a lift maintenance guy died in an elevator shaft for the accumulated CO2 sipping from the ground.

[retropipes]

Wow. Campi Flegrei is absolutely fascinating. Thanks for the update.

[TheSpaceEnthusiast-vlwx]

Thanks Geology Hub! While the threat of Campi Flegrei erupting is still unlikely, the threat of buildings collapsing and earthquakes is very real. There is also the headache of how Naples will deal with a volcanic eruption from either Vesuvius or Campi Flegrei, and how its population density will be dealt with in the future!

[gregkelly]

I sincerely hope that Campi Flegrei doesn't erupt, ever. Even so, I hope the Italians have very solid evacuation plans in place.

[unchargedpickles]

Since we've never gotten to study exactly what a supervolcano does immediately prior to eruption it always is super sketchy when a supervolcano is doing anything. Cause one of these days we're going to be able to say, "Ohhhh, so thats what a supervolcano does right before it unleashes a super eruption." And probably whatever it was that it did is either going to be some dramatic craziness where its like 100s of feet of uplift in a matter of hours or days or something super mundane like this one doing this exactly how it has been and one day unexpectedly it just super erupts. Until that day...we wont know.

[cacogenicist]

There's a Neapolitan-style pizza joint a few blocks from my house that has an imported wood-fired pizza oven, from Naples. Sudden overwhelming urge to go get a 12" pie now, thanks to this video.

[onerider]

This channel (and southern Utah) inspired me to re-read my old geology texts...and get some new ones. Fascinating stuff. Thanks!

[kathilisi]

I just looked for information on this topic as the main Austrian news site ran a story on a possible eruption today, and they linked to a video simulation of the worst case scenario. I'm glad that you think this scenario unlikely, I hope you're right. The simulation looked pretty terrifying.

[Mark_Dyer]

We once camped in 'The Campsite from Hell', which is inside the Solfatara Crater of the Phlegrean Fields Super-volcano; and I can assure you it was nothing like as active in the 1980s, as it is in documentaries I have seen of it, today. Half of the 'mini-crater' is lush green campsite; but the other half emits foul smells and the ground hisses. Around the crater-rim were clusters of houses, looking down into the crater. Perhaps 'Campi Phlegrei' is just taking a deep breath!

[abody]

Whatever the likelihood, I'll never understand living on the edge of an active volcano.

[wildlifeisthewealthofnatur]

Well, even hunga tonga hunga haapai big eruption was said to be highly unlikely but it did took place.

[lostinfrance]

Still. If this does pop soon it will be the cherries on the cake with everything else that is going on

[marksherry]

I believe this current activity is a progression far larger that even science may fear to admit. This volcanic complex is working to break up and weaken the protective layer of Neapolitan yellow tuff (Roman cement). When you link volcanic activity to GSM's and magnetosphereic weakness then the Felegrei eruption needs comparison to the 13000 and 40000 year events. That puts its timeline at 2028 to 2032. If this occurs the evacuation would need to be in the range of 11 millions.

[filledwithvariousknowledge]

Naples is badly unprepared for an eruption from either of the 2 volcanoes close even if it’s a minorish VEI 3

[genehasenbuhler]

I'm sure the earthquake yesterday in that region made it unstable! If it ever does go or split in half and sluff off into the ocean it's going to be a big change for sure!

[Flugmorph]

the pizza at the end was a nice regional touch lol