Vesuvius's big brother is starting to wake, say scientists

Mount Vesuvius's bigger and meaner neighbour could be gearing up for an explosion, researchers warn.

The 39,000-year-old Phlegraean Fields, home to one of the world's caldera super-volcanoes, has not erupted for hundreds of years. However, a new study says pressure created by rising magma could be reaching a critical point, The Times reports. It last erupted in 1538, with minor impact, and has been quiet for centuries. But it has become restless over the past 60 years, most notably in 1983-84, when the ground around it rose by almost six feet and thousands of earthquakes reverberated across the region.

Scientists now fear worse could be on the way. The volcano, which lies 15 miles from Naples, is releasing increasing amounts of carbon monoxide and boiling mud and small tremors can be felt, according to a study published in the Nature Communications journal.

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In 2012, Italian authorities raised the threat level from green to yellow, necessitating active scientific monitoring.The volcano lies an hour's drive from Vesuvius, which destroyed the Roman settlement of Pompeii and its surrounding cities when it exploded more than 2,000 years ago. An eruption by the Phlegraean Fields could be far worse, researchers say. The volcano system was born 39,000 years ago in explosive fashion, when a blast expelled hundreds of miles of lava and rock into the air.

Scientists believe the explosion was Europe's largest in 200,000 years and may have contributed to the demise of the continent's last Neanderthals, the Times says. The area is now a regional park, filled with hot springs and geysers, and home to around 500,000 people. The system so awed the Romans that they referred to its Lake Avernus crater as the mouth of Hades, according to the Daily Mail.