Ingv: seismic swarm with at least 35 shocks

The seismic swarm that began at 12:07 in Campi Flegrei has manifested itself with at least 35 earthquakes in about 4 hours, the strongest of which was the 4.4 magnitude earthquake at 12:07, followed by a 3.5 magnitude earthquake at 12:22 and then a 3.3 magnitude earthquake at 14:58. The swarm was started by a magnitude 2.1 shock, which preceded by a few moments the most violent earthquake, whose epicenter was in the sea, very close to the coast west of Rione Terra. The current situation in Campi Flegrei is captured by data recorded by the instruments of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.

All the earthquakes occurred at a depth of about 2.7 kilometers, "a depth increasingly affected by these greater energies," said the director of the Volcanoes department of the INGV Francesca Bianco. "The value of the uplift of the ground in recent weeks - she added - is estimated at around 1.5 centimeters and so far no increase in the uplift speed has been observed." Also for the director of the Vesuvian Observatory of the INGV, Mauro Di Vitpo "the dynamics have been "similar for months, with the energy accumulating until it causes the rock to break. The entire area is deforming and the seismicity is concentrating in the areas of Solfatara, Monte Nuovo and in the coastal area of ​​the Gulf of Pozzuoli". There are not even signs that the magma is rising towards the surface: "the magma is not within the first 3-4 kilometers from the surface, but - said Bianco - in depth the magma is active". The latter, he added "is certainly producing magmatic fluids", that is, gases such as carbon dioxide that have been observed since 2022, and such as carbon monoxide linked to the temperature and pressure conditions of the hydrothermal system. It is only the latter, currently, that are rising towards the surface.

Several landslides were also observed in the Accademia, Rione Terra and Solfatara areas, with collapses of unstable tuff blocks: "these are small events - Di Vito noted - that demonstrate how the territory is unstable, and that it is affected by the shaking effects linked to earthquakes". These are all the parameters that researchers are detecting daily: it is necessary to have all this data to avoid wrong conclusions, the two experts said. Surveillance is necessary, for example, because "a resurgence of the magna could happen in the medium or long term, but no one is able to establish when", just as "it is not certain that the crisis could evolve into a worse phenomenon", the two experts said. In any case "it is important to be prepared - said Di Vito - and to know that it is a volcano that can generate phenomena, but at the moment there is no evidence of this". Earthquakes, he added, "are not a normal thing, but something we expect": for this reason, preparing is important, just as it is important to behave correctly when events like today's occur: "we must also encourage checks on homes and not adopt incorrect behaviors", just as we must not clog up the streets to leave space for any emergency vehicles and researchers who have to carry out surveys".