Europe's largest undersea volcano could disintegrate and unleash a tsunami that would engulf southern Italy "at any time".

The Marsili volcano, with a magma chamber of sizeable dimensions," has "fragile walls" that could collapse,and  presents an immediate danger, with the volcanologists say it could happen "tomorrow"
 
"Marsili volcano is located 90 miles southwest of Naples, and a like distance from Mt Vesuvius. Italy is a volcanically active country, containing the only active volcano in mainland Europe. The country's volcanism is due chiefly to the presence, a short distance to the south, of the boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate Three main clusters of volcanism exist: a line of volcanic centres running northwest along the central part of the Italian mainland (see Campanian volcanic arc); a cluster in the northeast of Sicily; and another cluster around the Mediterranean island of Pantelleria.

Three of Italy's volcanoes have erupted in the last hundred years:

Mount Etna, on Sicily (continuous activity) 
Stromboli, one of the Aeolian Islands (continuous activity) 
Mount Vesuvius, near Naples (last erupted in 1944); the only active volcano in mainland Europe. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volcanism_of_Italy

Italy is the birthplace of volcanology. Mt Etna has the world's longest period of documented eruptions. Many of the eruptions of Etna, Stromboli, Vulcano, and Vesuvius were recorded by the Greek and Romans thousands of years ago.Pompeii, near Mt Vesuvius, was destroyed by an eruption of Vesuvius, is one of Italy's greatest tourist attractions.    
       
http://www.volcanolive.com/italy.html

Undersea Volcano Could Threaten Southern Italy With Tsunami
All Headline News (AHN); Windsor, Genova; March 29, 2010 

Rome, Italy (AHN) - A giant undersea volcano could generate a tsunami that would swamp southern Italy if it erupts, according to a volcanologist.

The Marsili volcano, which is 9,800 feet tall, 43 miles long and 19 miles wide, could collapse any time and the release of its magma would generate a powerful wave, said Enzo Boschi, president of the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology.

The volcano's crater is 1,467 feet below the surface of the Tyrrhenian Sea and a tsunami could hit the coasts of Campania, Calabria and Sicily, Boschi warned in an interview published Monday in an Italian newspaper.

 http://www.allheadlinenews.com/articles/7018245508#ixzz0jbZYIsQy
 
 
 
 
 

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