{"id":15437,"date":"2016-07-20T11:08:43","date_gmt":"2016-07-20T15:08:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/?p=15437"},"modified":"2016-07-20T11:15:55","modified_gmt":"2016-07-20T15:15:55","slug":"after-36000-years-a-massive-volcano-near-rome-rumbles-to-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/?p=15437","title":{"rendered":"After 36,000 years, a massive volcano near Rome rumbles to life (+video)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3>An ancient volcano on the outskirts of Rome is showing signs of another enormous eruption \u2013 some time in the next 1,000 years or so, say scientists.<\/h3>\n<p><span id=\"authors\" class=\"eza-authors outer_block\"><span class=\"author\">by<\/span> <span class=\"csm_staff\"><span class=\"author\">Christina Beck<br \/>\nThe Christian Science Monitor<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/launch.newsinc.com\/?type=VideoPlayer\/Single&amp;widgetId=1&amp;trackingGroup=69016&amp;siteSection=csmonitor_nws_wld_sty_pp&amp;videoId=31139914\" width=\"590\" height=\"332\" frameborder=\"no\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p>Almost 2,000 years after the burial of Pompeii and nearby Herculaneum during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in 79 A.D., an ancient volcano near Rome is rumbling to life, say scientists.\u00a0About 19 miles away from the heart of Rome, an ancient volcanic district called <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.agu.org\/geospace\/2016\/07\/12\/dormant-volcano-near-rome-waking\/\" target=\"_blank\">the Colli Albani is stirring<\/a>. The Colli Albani,\u00a0a 9-mile-long semicircle of hills on the outskirts of Rome, last erupted\u00a036,000 years ago, so geologists had classified it as extinct \u2013 until about 20\u00a0years ago.<\/p>\n<p>In the early 1990s, the area around the Colli Albani Volcanic District began showing geological indicators of a future explosion: ground levels shifted, steam vents opened, and earthquakes shook the hills around the site.<\/p>\n<p>Since that time, scientists have used these symptoms, along with satellite data and information about the volcano\u2019s previous eruptions, to evaluate the risk that the Colli Albani poses to the surrounding region.<\/p>\n<div id=\"story-embed-column\" class=\"pull_right p402_hide\"><\/div>\n<p>The increase in earthquakes (many of which occurred during an \u201cearthquake swarm\u201d between 1991 and 1995) and ground level changes in the region indicate the presence of a magma bubble forming beneath the earth near Colli Albani, pushing upwards until it can erupt.<\/p>\n<p>Using historical data, researchers determined that Colli Albani is not extinct, as was long believed \u2013\u00a0it merely operates on a 31,000-year cycle of dormancy and wakefulness. And when the volcano is awake, scientists say, it is dangerous.<\/p>\n<p>Over the last 200,000 years, scientists say that the region surrounding the Colli Albani has risen by 164 feet, and it continues to rise by nearly an inch per year, indicating that the magma bubble is still growing. For thousands of years, the magma bubble has been trapped by pieces of land that have now begun sliding against each other.\u00a0If those pieces shift enough, Colli Albani will erupt.<\/p>\n<p>When conditions are right (or, from a human perspective, terribly, terribly wrong), Colli Albani can produce eruptions similar to the one that destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 AD. Like Vesuvius, Colli Albani could erupt with a towering cloud of burning ash and showers of heated &#8220;lava bombs&#8221; that could damage or destroy nearby towns.<\/p>\n<p>Past eruptions have also seen swift streams of lava, scientists say, where Roman suburbs now cluster. A future eruption could devastate them.<\/p>\n<p>Rome itself would be safe from such an eruption in all but the very worst of circumstances. If the wind is blowing in the right direction, it could steer an ash cloud from Colli Albani towards the heart of the city.<\/p>\n<p>The good news, according to researchers, is that time is on Rome\u2019s side. The study\u2019s lead author, Fabrizio Marra, a volcanologist at the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology in Rome, told the American Geological Union that he does not expect the Colli Albani to erupt for another 1,000 years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe expect for sure some initial stages which may not be so explosive,&#8221; said Dr. Marra, &#8220;but it may evolve in time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, Roman officials are carefully monitoring the geophysical conditions around the volcano, to keep area residents safe.<span id=\"end-of-story\" class=\"eos_marker\" title=\"-30-\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.csmonitor.com\/Science\/2016\/0716\/After-36-000-years-a-massive-volcano-near-Rome-rumbles-to-life-video\">http:\/\/www.csmonitor.com\/Science\/2016\/0716\/After-36-000-years-a-massive-volcano-near-Rome-rumbles-to-life-video<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"quakes-near row\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An ancient volcano on the outskirts of Rome is showing signs of another enormous eruption \u2013 some time in the next 1,000 years or so, say scientists. by Christina Beck The Christian Science Monitor Almost 2,000 years after the burial &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/?p=15437\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15437","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15437\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cosmicconvergence.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}