Word: magma
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...Pozzuolians find their slow-motion earthquake puzzling, so do scientists at the University of Naples' Institute of Earth Sciences. They speculate that the dramatic changes have been caused by a sudden shifting of subterranean masses of molten rock, or magma, that well up from deep inside the earth through fractures in its crust. As the magma presses into new regions, it raises the earth on top of it. At the same time, land some distance away may gradually subside to fill the area vacated by the molten rock. That could account for a six-inch drop in the level...