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Campi Flegrei, the new Ingv study on bradisism and the increase in sulfur in the flues

Credit: ingv

The concentration of hydrogen sulfur Inside the Fumarole dei Campi Flegrei is in increase And this would be linked to the bradisismic crisis in progress: these are the conclusions reported in the new study “Escalation of Caldera Unrest indicated by Incaseing Emission of Isotopically Light Sulfur“, published on January 24 on Nature Geoscience. Paper investigates the ascent of magma in the area and was conducted by a team of researchers from theVesuvian Observatory of the Ingv In collaboration with the University of Palermo, the University of Cambridge and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute.

Specifically, the team analyzed and collected data starting from 2018, noting how the concentration of hydrogen sulfur (h2S) inside the fumaroles both progressively Augmented. However, this variation is not only linked to superficial hydrothermal processesas previously hypothesized, but most likely also to a growing contribution of gas coming from magma phlegreo. As confirmed also by the Ingv in a recent note, the growing transport of these gases towards the surface, which induces the heating of the hydrothermal system and who has favored an increase in seismicity in the Phlegraean area in the last period, may have determined a growing Mobilization of the sulfur trapped in hydrothermal mineralscontributing to the sulfur anomaly observed in the flues.

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Deposition of hydrothermal minerals of the sulfur around the Solfatara flues.
Credit: Ingv.

It is an important consideration because it could be further evidence in support of magmatic involvement in the current bradisismic crisis. These are the words of Giovanni ChiodiniResearch manager associated with the INGV:

The real novelty of our work is to have documented a clear evolution in the origin of the sulfur. The growing magmatic contribution in gases suggests an important evolution in the dynamics of the Flegreo volcanic system since 2018.

Attention: This does not mean that we are faced with an imminent volcanic eruption. The goal of the study is to underline the importance of monitoring and of the prevention in this sensitive area.

To deepen the topic, here is a mini-documentary on the Flegrei fields and their possible eruption:

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