Campi Flegrei, Ingv: no evidence of rising magma

'At the moment there is no evidence of magma rising'. This was said by Carlo Doglioni, president of Ingv, the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, during a hearing before the Chamber's Environment Committee on the situation of bradyseism and seismic risk in the Campi Flegrei area. "We know that deep down there is magma, as in all volcanoes," Doglioni recalled, explaining that the INGV works 24 hours a day to monitor the situation and underlining the importance of the decree approved at the end of 2023, dedicated to the ongoing bradyseismic crisis in the Phlegraean Fields. A decree aimed at tackling the intensification of bradyseism in the area in a preventive key. The seismic swarms that have hit the area have created a severe concern among the population. There are seismic, geochemical and volcanic risks in the area.

Doglioni recalled that there are at least ten active volcanoes in Italy, three of which are in the Campania region: Ischia, Flegrei and Vesuvius. There have been no eruptions since 1538; the most important was recorded 39,000 years ago. 'We do not invest enough to have more advanced predictive capabilities,' the Ingv president recalled. "We make all kinds of measurements," explained the president of Ingv, referring to those of a geochemical type, which mainly concern the sulphur field, where carbon dioxide emissions amount to 4 thousand tonnes per day, or those of the gravitational field.

"There is also little memory because we are talking about an event 40 years ago, people forget what happened in 1982-84," Doglioni said, recalling the bradyseismic crisis that preceded the current one. "The Phlegraean Fields are the most monitored volcano at the moment, although we still have a lot to do to understand and to have more advanced predictive capabilities". For this, 'we should invest more'. With regard to monitoring the volcano, 'as Ingv we are doing our utmost and the entire national Ingv is contributing to the analysis of the data'.

At the Phlegraean Fields, where there have been no eruptions since 1538, there are superficial and low-energy earthquakes, but for the president of Ingv, 'certainly the problem must be addressed in terms of vulnerability'.

Doglioni also noted that as a result of bradyseism, the ground is rising by an average of 20-30 millimetres per month, with a peak of 4 centimetres in recent months; in the 1982-1984 crisis, the ground had been rising by up to 9 centimetres per month. Another known element, said the president of INGV, is the 'correlation between seismicity and ground uplift', 'we know that there is a magma chamber at a depth of 7-8 kilometres', just as 'we have indications that there are more superficial magma intrusions, but confined to a depth of 4-5 kilometres' and that 'ground uplift is linked both to magmatic intrusions and to the hydrothermal effect of fluids'.