Press
An earthquake? No, that was quickly ruled out. But no one knows for sure what caused the deafening bang instead.
Campo nell’Elba – A bang that can be heard from Tuscany to Corsica – but what is the origin? Many people first think of an earthquake like the one that shook Italy in 2023. In the Adriatic region there was another earthquake in March 2024But the real reason for the noise, which caused fear and confusion on the Mediterranean coast of Italy and the French island on Thursday (June 20, 2024), remains unclear.
After an earthquake was ruled out, various theories about the mysterious phenomenon are circulating. Some suspect the cause is in space, others in the sea or in the air. But perhaps the most curious thing is that such an event is said to have occurred in this area several times before.
Thunder on the Mediterranean coast: Sound can be heard in Tuscany, Elba and Corsica
On Facebook The town of Campo nell’Elba (the oldest municipality on the island of Elba) announced that a nearby measuring station had recorded a “seismic acoustic event” at 4:30 p.m. “that was perceived by everyone.” According to media reports, the bang was also clearly audible on the island of Corsica, about 60 kilometers away. Last year, a violent earthquake shook Italy and also Tuscany.
The Tuscan regional president Eugenio Giani initially spoke of an earthquake. But he then backtracked because the Italian seismological observatory did not register any quakes.
Bang in the Mediterranean is apparently not an isolated case
Now everyone is faced with a mystery. And it gets even more mysterious: the ominous bang is apparently not an isolated incident. According to the newspaper, it was not the first such noise. Similar events were reported on Elba in 2012, 2016 and 2023. The cause is still unclear. According to the Tuscan Geophysical Institute, Thursday’s bang was ten times louder.
Even a longer temporal regularity is suspected: “The explosions have been repeated for at least ten years,” explained Gianmario Gentini of the West Elba Civil Protection two years ago at The Tyrrhenian Sea.
Area near Montecristo Island probably the origin of Mediterranean bang
But what was the origin? Some experts believe that the bang probably came from above. The Geophysical Institute of Tuscany and the University of Florence explained that measurements showed that the cause of the tremor was moving at a speed of more than 600 kilometers per second. “A meteorite entering the atmosphere seems the most likely and is consistent with the recorded data,” they said. A meteorite recently caused a stir, because it points to a possible groundbreaking discovery.
According to the Tuscan Geophysical Institute, the celestial body over the Mediterranean may be a fragment of a Asteroids that disintegrated in the Earth’s atmosphere and released large amounts of energy. Marco Morelli, director of the Parsec Foundation, expressed this suspicion. The calculations identified the source of the bang south of the island of Montecristo.
There is no evidence of a meteorite impact in the Mediterranean
The meteorite over the Mediterranean is said to have moved north from there at 1,440 kilometers per hour. After checking, the institute says this scenario “seems to be the most plausible and is consistent with the recorded data.”
But there is no evidence, the meteorite is just one of many theories. The daily newspaper The Sera Corriere quoted an unnamed employee of the Italian civil protection agency who does not believe in an impact: “An impact would have been registered by seismographs. There were no registered observations of a fireball. Likewise, the port authority of Livorno has “no reports” of a meteorite.
Bang in the Mediterranean not an isolated incident: It could have been an airplane
The employee has another theory: “The most likely hypothesis is still an airplane.” Regional President Giani, however, rules out this theory: he was assured by the Air Force that no airplane could have made a sonic boom there. And another theory is circulating: the bang could have come from the sea. According to media reports, the bang could have been caused by an underwater gas eruption. (cgsc with afp)
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