In January 2002, Nyiragongo volcano erupted 14–34 × 106 m3 of lava from fractures on its southern flanks. The nearby city of Goma was inundated by two lava flows, which caused substantial socioeconomic disruption and forced the mass exodus of the population, leaving nearly 120,000 people homeless. Field observations showed marked differences between the lava erupted from the northern portion of the fracture system and that later erupted from the southern part. These observations are confirmed by new 238U and 232Th series radioactive disequilibria data, which show the presence of three different phases during the eruption. The lavas first erupted (T1) were probably supplied by a residual magma batch from the lava lake activity during 1994–1995. These lavas were followed by a fresh batch erupted from fissure vents as well as later (May–June 2002) from the central crater (T2). Both lava batches reached the surface via the volcano's central plumbing system, even though a separate flank reservoir may also have been involved in addition to the main reservoir. The final phase (T3) is related to an independent magmatic reservoir located much closer (or even beneath) the city of Goma. Data from the January 2002 eruption, and for similar activity in January 1977, suggest that the eruptive style of the volcano is likely to change in the future, trending toward more common occurrence of flank eruptions. If so, this would pose a significant escalation of volcanic hazards facing Goma and environs, thus requiring the implementation of different volcano‐monitoring strategies to better anticipate where and when future eruptions might take place.

Middle-Late Pleistocene tectonic activity has been inferred through studies on travertine deposits exposed in a tract of the hinterland Northern Apennines. A detailed study on the relationships between tectonics and travertine deposition coupled with 230 Th/ 234 U age determination of travertines at Cava Oliviera quarry, located close to Serre di Rapolano village (southern Tuscany, Northern Apennines), allowed us to recognise Pleistocene faults, whose activity has been referred to 157-24 ka, at least. Travertine deposition was tectonically controlled by WSW-ENE striking, oblique and normal faults, associated to a main fault (named as the Violante Fault). This structure dissected a regional normal fault (known as the Rapolano Fault) Early-Middle Pliocene in age, which bounded the eastern side of the Pliocene Siena Basin, and gave rise to space accommodation for clayey and sandy marine sediments. Hydrothermal circulation (and related travertine deposition) was favoured by the damaging enhancement due to the fault-fault intersection. Tectonic activity has been also documented by deformation recorded by travertines, which suggest a main tectonic event between 64 ± 5 and 40 ± 5 ka. The tectonic activity described for the study area agrees with the Quaternary tectonic evolution documented in the surrounding areas (e.g. Mt. Amiata and Mt. Vulsini), as well as the Tyrrhenian margin of the Central Apennines, indicating that a widespread tectonic activity affected the inner part of the Apennines until the latest Quaternary.

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We present new stratigraphic, palaeomagnetic, 87Sr/86Sr and 40Ar/39Ar data from a lacustrine succession of the Sulmona basin, central Italy, which, according to an early study, included six unconformity‐bounded lacustrine units (from SUL6, oldest, to SUL1, youngest) spanning the interval >600 to 2 ka. The results of the present study, on the one hand confirm some of the previous conclusions, but by contrast reveal that units SUL2 and SUL1, previously attributed to the Holocene, are actually equivalent to the older SUL6 and SUL5 units – here dated to ∼814–>530 ka and ∼530–<457 ka, respectively – and that the U‐series dates previously published for both former SUL2 and SUL1 units yielded abnormally young ages. In light of the present results, a reassessment of the chronology of the Sulmona basin succession and a revision of the tephrostratigraphy of the SUL2/SUL6 and SUL1/SUL5 units is in order. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.