A supervolcano is waking up from a centuries-long sleep, scientists fear, and it could be ‘devastating’ if it erupts.
Campi Flegrei, or ‘burning fields’ in Italian, is a vast volcanic region that includes nearby Mount Vesuvius.
The eight-mile-wide area has been mostly eruption-free since 1538, when Naples saw a week of lava and smoke that formed Mount Nuovo.
But the blast was nothing compared to the eruption 40,000 years ago, so strong that the ash clouds and gas changed the Earth’s climate.
Experts have long believed Campi Flegrei could erupt again, with the volcanic alert level being yellow since 2012.
But a study published yesterday has revealed that four times the number of earthquakes have shaken the region than was first thought.
Will Campi Flegrei erupt? When a volcano will er