Italy’s Supervolcano Is Rumbling – And That’s Making People Nervous Nearly 80,000 people live in close proximity to the Campi Flegrei volcano Published |Updated Madeline Fitzgerald In the last three months, the Italian city of Pozzuoli has experienced 2,500 earthquake tremors – alarming residents, who live in close proximity to a supervolcano.

The Campi Flegrei volcano, located near Naples, hasn’t erupted since 1538 and its largest eruption happened tens of thousands of years ago. That eruption might have contributed to the extinction of Neanderthals, according to Reuters.

The increase in earthquakes, however, indicates an increase in volcanic activity – at one of the less than 100 supervolcanoes in the world. The tremors, which are growing in intensity, could be the result of magma pushing into the subsurface of the volcano, Reuters reports.

Researchers from University College London and Italy’s national institute recently conducted a study that determined that the earthquakes are weakening the volcano, which increases the likelihood of the crust rupturing, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The cracks in the road near the port caused by the lifting of the ground due to bradyseism on October 23, 2023, in Pozzuoli, Italy. Ivan Romano/Getty Images The cracks in the road near the port caused by the lifting of the ground due to bradyseism on October 23, 2023, in Pozzuoli, Italy. Ivan Romano/Getty Images © Provided by The Messenger The last time seismic activity alarmed residents was in the 1980s when Pozzouli’s ground was lifted almost 6.5 feet in a two-and-a-half-year period. This phenomenon is called bradyseism and is caused by volcanic activity. During that period, city officials evacuated Pozzuoli, which then had a population of about 40,000. Today the city has a population of close to 80,000. More @ https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/italy-s-supervolcano-is-rumbling-and-that-s-making-people-nervous/ar-AA1jhPC7