Scientists find huge pool of magna underneath central Italy

Scientists have made a surprising discovery deep beneath the surface in Italy.

They have found a huge pool of magma located underground in Tuscany, in the central part of the country.

Experts say the size is similar to the amount found under some of the most powerful supervolcanoes around the world.

They think this helps explain the mystery as to why the region has a lot of geothermal activity, without there being any active volcanoes in the area.

An international team lead by the University of Geneva in Switzerland made the discovery.

They used a technique called ambient noise tomography, which looks closely and accurately at natural ground vibrations, and allows researchers to "x-ray" the Earth's crust.

They found that there is a huge amount - just under 1,440 m³ (cubic miles) of magma - beneath Tuscany, located approximately five to nine miles underground.

This size of magma reservoir is similar to what is found under some of the world's most powerful volcanic sites - such as Yellowstone National Park in the United States or Lake Taupo in New Zealand.

Although this large pool of magma could contribute to the formation of a supervolcano over thousands of years, experts say that it isn't dangerous at all at the moment.

"We knew that this region, which extends from north to south across Tuscany, is geothermally active, but we did not realize it contained such a large volume of magma," explained Matteo Lupi, from the University of Geneva, who led the study.

Experts say that their findings could point to other undiscovered underground resources in the region.

Lupi added: "These results are important both for fundamental research and for practical applications, such as locating geothermal reservoirs or deposits rich in lithium and rare earth elements."