Scientists Worry European Supervolcano Is 'Awakening'MICHAEL SNYDER
We are potentially just one eruption away from a horrifying global famine that could kill millions. It takes an absolutely massive amount of dust and ash to create the conditions that are necessary for a "volcanic winter", and most volcanoes are simply not capable of releasing that much material. But when a "supervolcano" erupts, that is a completely different story.
Scientists tell us that there are 20 supervolcanoes on Earth, but there hasn't been a major eruption of any of them in any of our lifetimes. Unfortunately, seismic activity is on the rise all over the globe, and we are being warned that the Campi Flegrei supervolcano in Italy is "awakening"...
Scientists believe a European supervolcano is "awakening" amid fears it could devastate food supplies worldwide.
Following a number of powerful earthquakes at Campi Flegrei in Italy, scientists are alarmed that a major eruption could be pending.
If a major eruption of the Campi Flegrei supervolcano was coming, we would expect to see a lot of earthquake activity, because earthquake activity is a sign that pressure inside the volcano is building up...
Experts say eruptions are usually preceded with the increase in earthquake activity, as underground pressure builds up.
These small quakes can weaken the rock above the volcano's magma chamber, making it easier for magma to push through. Think of it like steam building in a pressure cooker, if the lid gets too weak, it could blow.
So has there been a lot of earthquake activity at the Campi Flegrei supervolcano lately?
Yes, there has.
In fact, it is being reported that there have been 6,000 earthquakes within the past six months, and the crater at Solfatara has been "spewing up to 5,000 tons of gas a day"...
A 4.4 magnitude quake hit Pozzuoli and Bagnoli in March, the strongest in 40 years. While 6,000 tremors have occurred in the last six months. A new study by Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology says the Solfatara crater is also spewing up to 5,000 tons of gas a day. The institute said that 80% of the carbon dioxide is coming from magma, while the rest is from hot liquids and calcite rocks interacting, another possible sign of the volcano's awakening
Scientists are also telling us that "layers of the large, caldron-like crater that Campi Flegrei is in are weakening"...
One reason for the rise in seismic activity is that layers of the large, caldron-like crater that Campi Flegrei is in are weakening. Layers about 4km deep in the crater, called a caldera, have been softening since 2005 and the crust is now starting to crack. The team said there are two possible outcomes based on their findings. The magma will keep swirling beneath the surface before cooling, causing a 'failed eruption', or a 'large volume' of magma about 8km deep could 'eventually' break out
On top of everything else, magma inside the supervolcano has been rising, and it is now only a few miles from the surface...
According to Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), magma is now just a few miles below the surface, a shallow depth that raises more concern.
If pressure continues to build, it could trigger an eruption with little warning, especially with all the recent quakes and gas releases.
Read that last sentence again.
I don't like the sound of that at all.
If there was a full-blown eruption of the Campi Flegrei supervolcano, it wouldn't just affect Europe.
Vast amounts of material would be released into the atmosphere, and we are being told that this "could cause years of cooler temperatures that would threaten food supplies worldwide"...
Authorities in Naples have critical evacuation plans for the millions living in the area. However, if an eruption were to happen, volcanic gases could cause years of cooler temperatures that would threaten food supplies worldwide.
Most of us have a hard time imagining what a volcanic winter would be like because we have never experienced one.
But there was a volcanic winter in 536 AD, and Wikipedia says that it resulted in millions of people dying...
The volcanic winter of 536 was among the most severe and protracted episodes of climatic cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the last 2,000 years. The volcanic winter was caused by at least three simultaneous eruptions of uncertain origin, with several possible locations proposed in various continents.
Modern scholarship has determined that in early AD 536 (or possibly late 535), an eruption ejected massive amounts of sulfate aerosols into the atmosphere, which reduced the solar radiation reaching the Earth's surface and cooled the atmosphere for several years. In March 536, Constantinople began experiencing darkened skies and lower temperatures.
Summer temperatures in 536 fell by as much as 2.5 °C (4.5 °F) below normal in Europe. The lingering effect of the volcanic winter of 536 was augmented in 539-540, when another volcanic eruption caused summer temperatures to decline as much as 2.7 °C (4.9 °F) below normal in Europe.
There is evidence of still another volcanic eruption in 547 which would have extended the cool period. The volcanic eruptions caused crop failures, and were accompanied by the Plague of Justinian, famine, and millions of deaths and initiated the Late Antique Little Ice Age, which lasted from 536 to 660.
A full-blown eruption of the Campi Flegrei supervolcano would be much worse than that.
For a moment, just imagine what would happen to global food supplies if average temperatures plunged by 10 degrees or more.
Crops would be wiped out all over the planet and we really would be facing mass extinctions...
If Campi Flegrei were to reenact its largest previous eruption, it would punch molten rock and volcanic gases high into the stratosphere, unleash 100-feet-high (33.5 meters) tsunamis and spread a plume of sulfur and toxic ash that could plunge Earth into global winter for years -- killing crops and causing mass extinctions.
