Camara Magmatica vista en sismica, Vesubio, Italia -- SEDIMENTOLOGIA Y GEOLOGIA

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Date Posted: 09:09:10 11/16/01 Fri
Author: Thierry
Subject: Camara Magmatica vista en sismica, Vesubio, Italia

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A giant pool of magma lies beneath Mt. Vesuvius, the volcano that buried the Roman city of Pompeii, and stretches under some of the most scenic coastline in Italy, scientists said on Thursday.The reservoir of molten rock is at least 150 square miles in size and lies 5 miles below the surface, the European team of researchers reported.

It may resemble a series of pools, which can be watched for seismic clues that should provide a tip-off before the next eruption, Paolo Gasparini of the Universita di Napoli Federic II in Naples said.``This also tells us that there is a huge amount of available magma under Vesuvius,'' Gasparini, who led the study, said in a statement.``It was really unexpected for the reservoir to be that size, so very wide and large. It underlies a very large area under the Neapolitan volcanoes.''

Vesuvius is quiet now, only trembling now and then with mild earthquakes and occasionally spewing off cool volcanic gases. But a powerful eruption can be expected at any time.
``Mt. Vesuvius is presently in a quiescent state, characterized by low-temperature fumaroles and moderate seismic activity (about 100 earthquakes per year with magnitudes between 0.5 and 3.6), and it is difficult to predict when it may erupt explosively again,'' the researchers wrote in their report, published in Friday's issue of the journal Science.

The volcano, which sits across the bay of Naples from the city, belched thick clouds of ash and debris that buried the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 A.D.
Its last major eruption was in 1944. Gasparini and colleagues used a technique called seismic tomography to find the magma pool. The echoes they got back from their explosions were used to build a three-dimensional picture.

The magma stretches from the nearby Apennine mountains to the Phlegraean Fields -- the series of volcanic calderas upon which Naples is built.

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