What is believed to be a massive supervolcano, the Phlegraean Fields, which are among the world's top eight emitters of volcanic carbon dioxide, according to media report, is beginning to rumble, making the scientific community anxious.
In a recent study, Gianmarco Buono, a volcanologist at Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, and his colleagues estimate that 20% to 40% of this carbon dioxide comes from the dissolution of calcite in the nearby rocks. The other 60% to 80% comes from underground magma.
For almost 20 years, a spot called the Solfatara Crater has been releasing increasing amounts of gas, drawing the attention of both researchers and locals.
When such a supervolcano erupts, it can eject more than 1,000 cubic kilometers of material into the atmosphere, which could have catastrophic effects on the global climate and environment, and could form a giant caldera, a huge crater potentially spanning dozens of kilometers.
With activity dating back some 40,000 years, the Phlegraean Fields have a long history of volcanic activity. The last eruption occurred in 1538.
Finding out what's really going on beneath the Phlegraean Fields and Solfatara Crater is a big deal – not just for scientists, but for everyone on Earth, as supervolcano eruptions can lead to significant geological and environmental impacts.