Duvalo (North Macedonia): A "volcano" without volcanic activity

T he Duvalo locality is located in the SW of the Republic of North Macedonia, in the Ohrid region, near the village of Kosel. It is an area of strong soil degassing, called “volcano” by the local people despite volcanic activity has never been documented in the recent geologic history of the area [1]. A large area (thousands of sqm) shows signs of strong alteration and is devoid of vegetation. Until the 19thcentury sulphur was mined from this area [1]. In August 2019, a campaign of soil CO2 flux measurements and soil gas sampling was made. Duvalo is sometimes referred to as an active geothermal feature but no signs of enhanced geothermal gradient were found and the soil temperatures at 50 c…