Overview
- A peer-reviewed study in Communications Earth & Environment used ambient-noise seismic tomography and a 60-station network installed in 2020 to image a large low‑velocity zone 8 to 15 kilometers deep under Tuscany.
- The team estimates roughly 6,000 cubic kilometers of magma with very high melt in the core above 80 percent and about 20 percent toward the edges.
- The reservoir’s size is in the same order as systems like Yellowstone, Long Valley, and Taupo, yet there is no caldera or thick eruption deposits at the surface.
- The authors interpret relatively cool, very sticky magma and a sealing crustal structure as barriers to upward flow, and they see no sign of an imminent eruption.
- The mapping approach, which listens to background ground vibrations to track wave speeds, could guide geothermal projects around Larderello and help prospect for lithium and rare-earth deposits.