Tiziana Vanorio, the geophysicist who discovered the secret of the “slow uplift” of the Phlegraean Fields

At 14, in Pozzuoli, where she was born and raised, she experiences something that changes her life forever: a bradyseismic crisis. The earth rises 180 centimeters under her feet. Silently. Slowly. The sea retreats, the port becomes shallower and shallower, the ferries from Ischia and Procida can no longer dock. The houses empty. And after the deformation of the earth, the earthquakes arrive. It is the crisis of 1982-84. She is a teenager. She is part of what will later be an evacuated generation. She sees the desperation of people and begins to wonder: why is nature acting up? What is under our feet? How does the Earth work?

From those questions a passion was born. She studied geophysics, specialized in rock physics and mechanics, left for a doctorate and then for a postdoc in the United States. Today Tiziana Vanorio is a professor of applied geophysics at Stanford University, and directs the Rock Physics laboratory in which he studies the behavior of rocks in extreme conditions and, just as new seismic swarms shake the Campi Flegrei, he publishes a research in the journal Science Advances that explains a possible mechanism underlying the bradyseism of the Phlegraean Fields: the pressure of fluids in the subsoil. From his research a startup was also born. It is called Plhego , as a tribute to the Campi Flegrei, it was founded with two Italians and a Spaniard in Silicon Valley: «It is the most fun thing of my career».

Develop a geomimetic cement inspired by the volcanic nature of the territory. A more affordable technology that can make a decisive contribution to decarbonizing the cement industry on a global scale. «Science is born from curiosity, but it must serve society. It is something I learned deeply here, at Stanford. Here they say understanding Earth , serving the society ».

Since she was a child, Vanorio has had the instinct to fix everything: she opened things to see how they were made inside. "I would plug holes in the walls with an improvised mixture of pasta soaked in water and colored powder from crayons. I asked for a microscope as a gift, thinking that I could see inside things. It wasn't like that...". After graduating from Federico II, she began a doctorate in Naples and Paris, then flew to California with a scholarship for a postdoc at Stanford. In her suitcase she took rock samples from Campi Flegrei. "I still remember when I arrived at customs and they asked me: what are these pieces of stone?". Then she returned to Europe. She began her career in France in Nice, where she obtained her qualification as a professor. But in the meantime Stanford called her back: he offered her a role as a professor, to build a laboratory, the freedom to do research and create her own group. She found herself at a crossroads. "I love the sea and the French Riviera is a wonderful place, but I chose to return to the USA. At Stanford, if you have ideas and bring innovation, they support you. They give you freedom. However, the competition for funding is fierce."

In his laboratory he studies the properties of rocks for energy applications, such as geothermal energy, CO2 and hydrogen storage. "But I have always had Pozzuoli and the research for the Campi Flegrei in my heart." Thus, after years of research and experiments, Vanorio arrives at a result that changes the perspective. Analyzing the samples collected in Pozzuoli, he demonstrates that the cause of bradyseism may not be linked to an ascent of magma or its gases, but to the increase in pressure of the aqueous fluids that accumulate underground. "When I started, there was no knowledge of the mechanical behavior of the rocks down there. I wanted to know their properties and how they deform. Without these parameters, any model remains hypothetical. The fluids are there, in the pores of the rocks. If the conditions change, if there is more input, if the temperature increases or if the rocks cement, the pressure increases. It is as if it were "a pressure cooker": the rocks swell and the ground rises."

Understanding through experimentation is absolutely fundamental to the scientific method. In the meantime, he continues to do research, register patents and publish in scientific journals. «Today, thanks to a new seismic “TAC” that we made with colleagues from the University of Naples and using over ten thousand earthquakes, it was possible to recognize an anomaly that repeats itself compared to the “TAC” that I made with data from the 1982-1984 crisis. We had confirmation of a geothermal reservoir under Pozzuoli, which recharges and becomes pressurized. We studied the rate of deformation of the reservoir rock. It is like a balloon: the faster the water enters, in addition to magmatic fluids, the more it deforms exponentially». The results will soon be published in another article in Nature Communication . In the meantime, according to Vanorio, there are possible solutions to evaluate. «We need to census the wells already present in the area, monitor the aquifers and calculate the pressure of the reservoir, and reopen a serious debate on hydrogeological instability. For example, in the area, the Bourbon canals built as part of the canalization and hydraulic reclamation works started by the Bourbons at the end of the 1500s precisely because of the continuous floods, have been blocked and full of waste since the early 2000s, thus contributing to the risk of flooding and water infiltration into the subsoil. It is absurd that in 2025 there is less foresight than in 1600."

History within history. Studying core samples taken years earlier in Pozzuoli, Vanorio and a fellow mineralogist from Berkeley they notice something in the structure, but they can't observe it well. "We decided to go to the Argonne Lab, a synchrotron in America, because only there was the spatial resolution necessary to see and study the nanostructure." And that's exactly where discover the presence of fibrous minerals that make rocks more resistant. "Microstructure is fundamental. It determines how a material behaves on a macroscopic scale."

The Berkeley colleague, who worked with an engineering professor, he explains to her that those same fibers are present in Roman cement. She has an epiphany, connects the dots, remembers the Latin versions and the fact that the Romans used volcanic ash from Pozzuoli, pozzolana, to make their cement. "Pliny wrote that pozzolana became rock when it touched water." The circle closes. From there an intuition is born: replicate those properties to create a new type of cement.

So, during the pandemic, he founded Phlego, a startup based in Silicon Valley, with two Italian colleagues, Alberto Salleo, professor of Materials Science at Stanford, and Matteo Cargnello, professor of chemical engineering.

Will you return to Italy? "Maybe in retirement. I don't think I would have had the same career if I had stayed in Italy." Her husband, who works as a scientific graphics specialist, created the animations for the Science article .

If you ask what made the difference in his life, he answers: «Enthusiasm, curiosity , perseverance. It is a quality that can be trained. And a lot of generosity, which I have received and which I now try to give back».

He dedicated his discoveries to two mentors. The first is the professor of terrestrial physics in Naples, Oliveri del Castillo, who already in the seventies had intuited the connection between bradyseism and fluids. «I attended his lessons and I didn't understand, because what he explained wasn't written anywhere. But when I told him: “I'm from Pozzuoli, I'd like to know more”, he told me: “You have to go to Stanford. Amos Nur is there”». Nur was his mentor. The second. The father of rock physics. Today Vanorio tries to give back to the youngest. And among the first things he teaches, there is optimism. «Science doesn't have a linear path. You have an idea, it goes badly, you stop for a moment, you understand, you start again. Many kids get discouraged. I often say: “guys, it's not just science that's like this, it's life”. You also learn from the negative things and you get back up. And then at a certain point, you have to say: tomorrow is another day."