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Italian supervolcano "Phlegraean Fields" is showing signs of waking up

That belongs to the missing row of my "what can possibly go wrong?" bingo.

16 hours agogmuslera

As a non geologist, what's the significance of the gases starting to come from near-surface fluids rather than deep magma? Naively, I would be more worried about the magma as that's what comes up in an eruption. But they seem to be worried that the gas source has changed to subsurface fluids?

17 hours agoajb

Also non-geologist, but my understanding is that the gassing is a sign of "frothing", active magma. It's the difference between boiling just water in a saucepan, and boiling water and pasta - the latter will result in the saucepan overflowing.

I believe that the switch in out-gassing behaviour suggests that the magma viscosity and gas levels have hit a critical point that means that the field is more likely to erupt.

16 hours agomonkeydreams

Since 2005. These things take thousands of years...

13 hours agothrowaway290

This makes me think I'm gonna start increasing non-perishable reserves for my family.

17 hours agorscho
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