Swarms of earthquakes have been jolting southern Italy with increasing intensity since 2022, threatening hundreds of thousands of people living atop a volcanic area known as Campi Flegrei, where the land experiences slow vertical movements.

While authorities debate disaster responses and evacuation protocols, researchers may have found a way to thwart the cyclic unrest altogether: by managing water runoff or lowering groundwater levels, thus reducing fluid pressure within the geothermal reservoir.

Through subsurface imaging and lab experiments, Stanford scientists have shown how pressure buildup from water and vapor in the reservoir under Campi Flegrei can lead to earthquakes when the caprock, or lid, seals.