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Science & Technology
Undersea Volcano 90 Miles SW Of Naples Could Collapse - Tsunami
2010-03-29
Europe's largest undersea volcano could disintegrate and unleash a tsunami that would engulf southern Italy "at any time", a prominent vulcanologist warned in an interview published Monday.

The Marsili volcano, which is bursting with magma, has "fragile walls" that could collapse, Enzo Boschi told the leading daily Corriere della Sera.

"It could even happen tomorrow," said Boschi, president of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV).

"Our latest research shows that the volcano is not structurally solid, its walls are fragile, the magma chamber is of sizeable dimensions," he said. "All that tells us that the volcano is active and could begin erupting at any time."

The event would result in "a strong tsunami that could strike the coasts of Campania, Calabria and Sicily," Boschi said.

The undersea Marsili, 3,000 meters (9,800 feet) tall and located some 150 kilometres (90 miles) southwest of Naples, has not erupted since the start of recorded history. It is 70 kilometres long and 30 kilometres wide, and its crater is some 450 metres below the surface of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

"A rupture of the walls would let loose millions of cubic metres of material capable of generating a very powerful wave," Boschi said. "While the indications that have been collected are precise, it is impossible to make predictions. The risk is real but hard to evaluate."
Posted by: Anonymoose

#5  Anonymoose:

If people had any clue of what has happened in the Naples area over the recent geological history, they wouldn't live there to begin with. Probably the most interesting is the VEI-7 eruption at Campi Flegrei about 30,000 years ago (during the last ice age just before the start of this interglacial) that spread ash all the way to Moscow and ended hominid habitation of much of Central and Eastern Europe for over 2000 years. Archeology shows Neanderthal habitation before the event, nothing for 2000 years after the event, and then modern human habitation thereafter. It buried much of Eastern Europe under 6 feet or more of volcanic ash.

This story is some researcher angling for grant money by creating fear. Now the politicians will need to "study" it and he will be the recipient of the research grant. I see this crap all the time in the scientific literature. "Global Warming" is much the same scam.

There are dozens of such unstable cones around the planet and there is absolutely nothing we can do about them. Mt. Rainier in Washington is one of them. The entire Western slope is "rotten" and could slide at any moment with no warning whatsoever. All the studying in the world isn't going to change that or give you any warning of an impending failure of that slope.

Same goes for volcanoes in the Azores / Canary Islands area.

But you couldn't pay me enough to live anywhere near Naples. That place erupts at nearly Yellowstone magnitude and much more frequent intervals. More like Long Valley Caldera magnitudes but still, very powerful eruptions and at fairly frequent intervals in geological timeframs.
Posted by: crosspatch   2010-03-29 20:26  

#4  Whahaha... Joseph, you are a treasure.
Posted by: Besoeker   2010-03-29 18:48  

#3  Clearly we need BRUCE WILLIS + his Team of brave, Rough-N-Ready dirty smelly DRILLERS-RIGGERS to drill a side hole[s) and relieve the pressure on this NOT-SO-TEXAS-SIZED-VOLCANO???

* MADONNA > "HEY YOU"!, aka THE RIGGER SONG.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2010-03-29 18:45  

#2  Marsili is almost 10,000 ft. tall, 43 miles long and 19 miles wide. This means that if about anything happens to it, it would be very bad.

Not just an eruption, but if one of its walls collapses, or a large piece just breaks off, which has apparently happened before, as they are sitting right next to it, a super tidal wave could result.

And such events are not mutually exclusive. The west coast of Italy and the north coast of Sicily could just be flattened.
Posted by: Anonymoose   2010-03-29 16:42  

#1  Sounds to me like someone needs research grant funding. Did you know that you "could" be hit right on the head by a meteorite just as you are sitting here reading this? But it is impossible to make predictions. The risk of that is real but hard to evaluate.



Posted by: crosspatch   2010-03-29 15:49  

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