Scientists Discover Large Magma Reservoir Beneath Tuscany

Scientists have discovered a reservoir containing approximately 6,000 cubic kilometers of magma buried deep beneath Tuscany. This volume is comparable to the magma systems beneath some of the world's most powerful supervolcanoes, including those found at Yellowstone in the United States and Lake Taupo in New Zealand. The finding was published in the journal Nature.

The magma reservoir was identified by a team from the University of Geneva, Italy's Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resources, and the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology. The researchers utilized a technique called ambient noise tomography, which involves recording natural vibrations passing through the ground.

These vibrations were captured using a network of around 60 high-resolution seismic sensors deployed across the region.

" The magma sits between 8 and 15 kilometers below the surface, with an estimated 3,000 cubic kilometers of liquid melt at its center, encased in roughly 5,000 cubic kilometers of crystal-rich partially molten rock. The researchers noted that the region shows almost none of the surface signs typically associated with large magma bodies underground and has not experienced significant eruptions in hundreds of thousands of years, with the last eruption from Mount Amiata occurring around 300,000 years ago.

The study indicates that the magmas in the Tuscan region formed through the melting of surrounding crustal rocks rather than rising from the mantle.

The high viscosity of the magmas causes them to accumulate slowly rather than ascend explosively. The researchers suggested that further analysis is needed to confirm the presence of even larger volumes of magma beneath Mount Amiata. The findings have implications for understanding long-term evolutionary processes at volcanic systems and may assist in locating geothermal reservoirs or deposits rich in lithium and rare earth elements, which are closely linked to deep magmatic systems.

The Larderello area of Tuscany, known for its geothermal energy production since the early twentieth century, is powered by this magma reservoir.