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This could possibly be very, very bad...

ThinkingManNeil

ThinkingManNeil

Charter Member
A small volcanic geyser/mudpot/fumerole/vent has formed near an airport near Rome.

If this were to occur in the Campi Flegrei volcanic complex outside Naples, I wouldn't be terribly surprised as it's a very active hydrothermal area, but Rome?!? Where there's been no volcanic activity for 12,000 years? This could be an indicator that magma is on the move near the surface. Reminds me a bit of the famous Paricutin eruption of 1943 that occurred in a peasant farmer's cornfield...

N.
 
Probably not a big deal right now. If anything, I'd consider the fumerole a sort of a comforting sign. It means the crust is thin, warm, and given to solution... Rome is built on limestone, I believe... and therefore not likely to be able to hold much pressure. We probably will not see a major eruption there IMHO.
It's also probably important to note that it is a single fumerole, so the system is not a large one.

I dunno. Although I am studying geology, I'm still an undergraduate and I haven't taken any specific courses on volcanology, but that is my feeling on it - that there is no real reason to worry. I feel like if there is a dangerous magma source down there, it will probably take several decades at a minimum to get near eruption - and by then there will have been plenty of surface disruption of other sorts. It would take a large amount of wilful ignorance at that point for anyone to get killed in an eruption.
Surface disruption that might be seen would potentially include and huge number of additional fumeroles and mudpots, maybe even including geysers, the formation of a large dome, etc. These would radically change drainage and cause landslides. Earthquakes are probably a pretty obvious effect, as well.
To see what sort of scale of dome is possible, check out these links about a possible supervolcano of Yellowstone size in California outside Yosemite... the Long Valley Caldera. -->http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Valley_Caldera
This large hill in the center of this photo is the magma dome deforming terrain that should be pretty close to level...
View attachment 92514

Paracutin is a cinder-cone. These are very small and exist for only a brief time. After Paracutins last eruption in 1953, we can say with 100% confidence that it will never erupt again. Cinder cones have a very small magma supply and form as a result of extensional stresses caused by tectonic activity. The Western United States is crammed to the gills with old cinder cones. Some very famous places such as chimney rock are the remains of old cinder cones that have eroded completely away - chimney rock is central magma conduit of a cinder cone that existed on that site some millions of years ago. Sunset Crater in Arizona is a spectacular cinder cone that erupted in the last thousand years. There is another one outside of Delta, Utah, that came and went about 600 years ago.

I wonder what the rest of you geologists on SOH think about this?
 
I can't speak about the Rome fumarole, but I am intimately familiar with the Long Valley caldera.

I live about two miles from this spot in your photo. This dome is at the center of the caldera and resulted partly when the caldera was formed during the initial collapse and also has been carved by two periods of glaciation, the Tioga and Tahoe. The Eastern Sierra drop from 13k to 5k at this location with the vertical east face of the mountain range being carved with multiple, interwoven glacier canyons. The moraines resulting from the glacial periods are very prominent in proximity to the location seen here. Plate tectonics, fault movement and low level volcanism have also contributed to the topography as we see it here. When hiking the mountains and valleys one can read the geologic record like a book. Wonderful stuff.

To the north is Mono Craters and Mono Lake, which was active as recently as 600 years ago. Walking around Mono Lake is more like being on a foreign planet than being on Earth.

This particular spot in this photo has been known to raise by three feet when the magma chamber becomes more active. I walk the dog out on this road every day and it's impressive to realize that seven miles down is one of the largest lava lakes in the continental US. To the east one mile is the Hot Creek canyon, a miniature Grand Canyon containing many fumaroles and hot spots. You can stand in the river in this spot and feel the ground rumbling beneath your feet as the water boils up from below. The place is incredibly powerful.

A few years ago a fumarole on the side of Mammoth Mountain Ski Area became very active. A skier went past the boundary tape and fell through the snow cap into the vent. Ski patrol went in after the skier and removed him from the vent. Two patrollers we overcome by the gasses. Three more went in after them and were able to get the original two patrollers out. The three that went in died in the vent. Two were friends of mine.

The entire Owens Valley to the south is lined with cinder cones that have formed continually as the White Mountains to the east slide off of the face of the Sierra Nevada on their slow migration eastward. Just south of my house is a very steep canyon that is a relatively recent formation as this fracturing and movement occur along the fault lines. A walk down Lower Rock Creek Canyon will reveal a series of very sharp cliff faces that show the layers of lava flow, lahar and rubble that resulted in the eruption 760,000 years ago. You can see the distinct layers of lava flow, ejected lava rock and progressively lighter layers that accumulated as the plume collapsed and deposited the suspended debris. The mud/lava landslide that flowed south towards the Owens Valley is full of tufa formations that ring like ripe watermelons when you tap them with a hammer.

If you are interested take a flight from KBIH north to KMMH to view this area in detail. The use of photo real scenery here is highly recommended.
All things considered I would rather deal with a rumbling giant like we have here, than tornados and hurricanes. At least we get a HU when the old girl gets cranky.

The Mediterranean seems to have its share of sudden volcanic events...it will be interesting to follow this one. The fumarole could be a precursor of a larger anomaly forming in the area.
 
Mud Volcanoes can be very dangerous and deadly.

This one has been spewing mud since 2006 and has killed 13 people and displaced 13,000 people. It was originally blamed on gas drilling in the region but some now believe it is natural and was caused by an earthquake.

Either way its still putting out a lot of mud with no end in site.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/...04-mud-volcano-indonesia-java-erupt-26-years/

http://news.sciencemag.org/asia/2011/02/indonesias-infamous-mud-volcano-could-outlive-all-us

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/...onesia-disaster-drilling-quake_n_3634361.html
 
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