Starting this morning, shortly after 08,00 Italian time, the seismic swarm currently underway at Campi Flegrei It recorded over 60 tremors, most of them very weak.
Only three exceeded a magnitude of 2.0, and of these the strongest, which occurred at 3:08,52 a.m., reached magnitude 3.1, explained Francesca Bianco, director of the volcanoes department of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.
"The ongoing seismic swarm is closely related to the ground uplift phenomenon, which has been ongoing in the Campi Flegrei area since 2005. As long as the uplift continues," Bianco states, "we should expect similar seismic events."
Since July of last year, the ground rising has reached a speed of about 2 centimeters per month in the most affected area, which is the Rione Terra of Pozzuoli.
"The phenomenon is not receding," the INGV researcher comments, "and we continue to observe an increase in geochemical anomalies." The strongest earthquake, a magnitude 3.1, was located at a depth of almost 3 kilometers in the Solfatara and Pisciarelli area, about 5 kilometers east of Pozzuoli. As Francesca Bianco states, this is precisely the area affected by the greatest fumarole activity, the most active volcanic sector of the Campi Flegrei caldera in terms of gaseous emissions, and also the one most affected by recent seismic activity.
Although another magnitude 2.7 tremor was recorded at 11 a.m., the greatest seismic activity appears to have occurred in the early part of the seismic swarm: "The most energetic part of the swarm," says Bianco, "was concentrated at the beginning, but we can't make any predictions."
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