Will Campi Fiegrei Finally Erupt? Italy In The Crosshairs

A picture of Ecuador's Tungurhua volcano erupting.

Campi Fiegrei is threatening to erupt.

There’s a current volcanic situation in Italy right now, and the jury is out if Campi Fiegrei volcano near Naples actually erupts or not.

Preparations to evacuate are taking place, however, due to ground swells of magma rising over .5″ a month, and volcanologists are monitoring this rise that’s also causing ground temperatures to heat up.

This is where studying earthquakes comes in – Campi Fiegrei is bigger than Mt. Vesuvius, which destroyed Pompeii in 79 AD. Fiegrei has 24 craters, and the area around Naples has had more than 1,100 earthquakes occur just in September with some reaching magnitudes of 4.2.

The last time Campi Fiegrei experienced a series of earthquakes was in 1980, but its last significant eruption was in 1538. One of its biggest eruptions is suspect of causing the extinction of the Neanderthal 39,000 years ago. Magma from this blast has been found in Greenland.

So, you can see that volcanoes have not had massive eruptions in our modern history, but when they do erupt, they can destroy life thousands of miles away with little warning. The signs are here now, but people logically resist vacating until it’s too late.

A really good movie that really depicts volcanic eruptions accurately is Dante’s Peak. It’s a 1990s film so it’s a bit dated, but as far as volcanoes go, it’s spot on. It’s worth the watch if you want to really get an idea what’s it’s like to escape a volcanic eruption.

Wishing Italy the best of luck – rimani al sicuro.


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Deadly 6.8 Magnitude Quake Strikes Morocco

A deadly 6.8 quake struck in Morocco.

A shallow earthquake hit Morocco yesterday killing over 1,000 people, so far that is – they are still digging through the rubble.

It broke inside the crust 16 miles down in the lithosphere, but this is considered shallow! Shallow quakes cause more damage on the surface of the crust than deeper quakes, which are hundreds of miles down.

Shaking was felt over 125 miles from the epicenter. Let’s say this earthquake hit in Dallas – you would feel it in East Texas.

Over 6 million people have been affected from this quake in some way – utilities, house damage, road damage, lack of water, etc.

The quake occurred in the Atlas Mountains fault zone region. The question is … where will the next one occur? We’ll soon find out because when a large quake strikes, another one will follow somewhere else on the globe.

Our hearts go out to the people in Morocco.

11 Years After Historic Fukushima Earthquake, Another One Strikes Again

A Wikimap of the Fukushima Prefecture in Japan.

The Fukushima Prefecture in Japan.

In the night on March 16, 2022, a 7.4-magnitude quake hit off the coast of Fukushima. It derailed a bullet train, opened cracks in the highways, and threw products from the shelves in shops.

Many smaller quakes continued through Thursday morning resurrecting memories of the 9.1 magnitude earthquake  and tsunami that resulted in a nuclear disaster in the same area on March 11, 2011.

A tsunami warning for waves up to 3 feet in parts of northeast Japan was lifted in the early hours of Thursday after authorities recorded water levels higher than normal in some of the coastal areas.

Compared to the devastation in 2011, the damage appeared comparatively minor. Preventative construction in Japan protects against devastating frequent earthquakes, and there were no abnormalities at the nuclear power plants.

To date, 4 deaths and more than 100 injuries have been reported, but investigations are still under way.

The quake struck at a depth of 37 miles around 11.30 PM, after a 6.1-magnitude quake first struck minutes earlier in the same area.