‘Mini volcano’ erupts close to Rome airport [update + video]

Source: Catholic Confidential

To recap the news, for those who didn’t catch this story: Italian experts were puzzled by the overnight appearance of a geyser crater last week. It opened up in the middle of a roundabout close to the perimeter fence of Rome’s Fiumicino airport [map]. This small eruption has been spraying clouds of gas and debris 15 feet in the air, less than 900 yards from the end of a runway.

Recently, Erik Klemetti, assistant professor of geosciences at Denison University in Ohio, spoke with LiveScience about this story: “There are a lot of hot springs in the area around Rome, so it might not be surprising that new vents could open. Likely this doesn’t lead to anything more than maybe a new hot spring, if it is related to the normal geothermal activity across the area. Once volcanologists can sample the gases being emitted, we might have a better idea of what the ultimate source of the vent might be.”

The latest update is this: The geyser-like vent, which is nearly two meters wide, has been confirmed by scientists. They’ve labeled it a “fumarole,” a “a vent in or near a volcano from which hot gases, esp steam, are emitted. Experts will continue to monitor it.

Experts are mindful that this volcanic geyser has appeared in an area that includes Mount Vesuvius, which buried the Roman city of Pompeii when it erupted in 79AD, to a number of lakes formed in extinct volcanoes north of Rome.

Read more, in the source article at Catholic Confidential