(ANSA) – NAPLES, MAY 21 – Since 7.51pm yesterday, the seismic swarm underway in the Campi Flegrei area has recorded, until 12.31am today, around 150 earthquakes, the strongest of which was of magnitude 4.4, inside the Solfatara. This was highlighted by the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV), adding that at present there is no increase in the lifting speed, which is currently 2 cm/month, nor changes in the trend in horizontal deformations or different local deformations of the ground compared to the previous trend. The INGV therefore recalls that during the bradyseismic crisis of 1982-84 the ground lifting reached 9 cm per month, and even exceeded 1300 seismic events per month.
Currently, however, around 450 events have been recorded in the last month. Furthermore, the geochemical parameters “do not show significant variations compared to the trends of recent months, other than the well-known increase in temperature and pressure that characterizes the hydrothermal system”. “Seismicity – adds the INGV – is not a predictable phenomenon, therefore it cannot be ruled out that other seismic events may occur, even of similar energy to what has already been recorded during the current swarm”. The INGV Vesuvius Observatory continues its ordinary and extraordinary monitoring activities in order to “identify even the smallest variations in the monitoring parameters useful for better defining the current phenomenon underway”. Furthermore, the structures of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology dedicated to monitoring the Campi Flegrei caldera area “are always operational 24 hours a day and today measurements and sampling will be carried out in some sites of the caldera”. The INGV, with its Naples section Osservatorio Vesuviano, “is constantly in contact with the national and regional Civil Protection and with the municipalities involved, as well as with all the authorities competent for the protection of the territory”. (HANDLE). .
