Saving Naples: Geologists to drill 13,000ft into side of volcano to find out when it will blow



Geologists fear massive eruption is imminent

Locals fear team will trigger explosion



Scientists are planning to drill into the heart of an active volcano to try and protect the city of Naples from a devastating eruption.



Researchers are to install underground sensors inside Campi Flegrei, a volcano in southern Italy.



The team plans to drill a 4,000-metre hole into the side of the volcano early next year and measure the difference in temperature of the rocks to find out where the red-hot magma lies inside the mountains.



Tourists tour the steaming craters at Campi Flegrei outside Naples. Scientists fear that it might be ready to erupt

Campi Flegrei caldera lies around 5 miles west of Naples. It is a low-lying volcano and more than 1.5 million people live in the immediate vicinity.



It has had periods of unrest in 1969–1972, and 1982–1984 but it last erupted in 1538.



Movement in the ground over the past 40 years has made geologists fear that another massive eruption is likely.

Scientists estimate that magma lies at least 7,000 metres below the surface of the caldera.



But little is known about Campi Flegrei, or similar volcanoes. ‘Calderas are the only volcanoes that can cause truly catastrophic eruptions with global consequences, yet they are still poorly understood,’ says Giuseppe De Natale, the project's coordinator and a geophysicist at Italy's National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology in Naples.



Scientists also expect to hit high temperature liquids (up to over 900°F) which, according to the research team, could be used to generate geothermal energy. These liquids do not turn into gas because they are under so much pressure.





Geothermal energy is an alternative source of energy that can be converted into power, and is considered a reliable alternative to wind or solar energy.



But local critics say the drilling is too close to the city and could even trigger an explosion. Coming across magma too close to the surface could cause an explosion which could be catastrophic if it took place close Naples.



The probe is expected to face temperatures of up to 600 C as they drill deeper into the volcano and get closer to the magma at its core.



‘No similar project has ever faced such temperatures,’ De Natale told Nature magazine.



Borehole fibre-optic sensors will help scientists know where the magma is stored while other sensors will monitor the movement of the ground around the volcano, giving potentially vital information about when it might erupt.