Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Province
of Catania, between Messina and Catania. It lies above the convergent plate margin between
the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is the tallest active volcano on the European
continent, currently 3,329 m high, though this varies with summit eruptions. It is the
highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps. Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal
circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three active volcanoes
in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius.
Only Mount Teide in Tenerife surpasses it in the whole of the European–North-African
region. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under this mountain by
Zeus, the god of the sky and thunder and king of gods, and the forges of Hephaestus were
said to also be located underneath it. Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes
in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity. The fertile volcanic soils
support extensive agriculture, with vineyards and orchards spread across the lower slopes
of the mountain and the broad Plain of Catania to the south. Due to its history of recent
activity and nearby population, Mount Etna has been designated a Decade Volcano by the
United Nations. In June 2013, it was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Etymology According to Adrian Room’s book Place-names
of the World, the name Etna originated from the Phoenician word attuna meaning "furnace"
or "chimney". He dismisses the hypothesis that Etna is from the Greek αἴθω - meaning
"I burn" - through an iotacist pronunciation. In Classical Greek, it is called Αἴτνη,
a name given also to Catania and the city originally known as Inessa, and in Latin it
is called Aetna. In Arabic, it was called جبل النار Jabal al-Nār.
It is also known as Mungibeddu in Sicilian and Mongibello or Montebello in Italian. The
term is not in common use today, although some older people still call it this. According
to another hypothesis the term Mongibello comes from the Latin Mulciber, one of the
Latin names of the god Vulcan. The people of the Etna sometimes use the jargon
term 'a muntagna, simply "the mountain" par excellence.
Nowadays, the term Mongibello indicates the mountain's top area of the two central craters
encompassing also the craters in the southeast and the northeast of the volcanic cone.
History of volcanic eruptions Geological history
Volcanic activity first took place at Etna about half a million years ago, with eruptions
occurring beneath the sea off the ancient coastline of Sicily. About 300,000 years
ago, volcanism began occurring to the southwest of the summit then, before activity moved
towards the present centre 170,000 years ago. Eruptions at this time built up the first
major volcanic edifice, forming a stratovolcano in alternating explosive and effusive eruptions.
The growth of the mountain was occasionally interrupted by major eruptions, leading to
the collapse of the summit to form calderas. From about 35,000 to 15,000 years ago, Etna
experienced some highly explosive eruptions, generating large pyroclastic flows, which
left extensive ignimbrite deposits. Ash from these eruptions has been found as far away
as south of Rome's border, 800 km to the north.
Thousands of years ago, the eastern flank of the mountain experienced a catastrophic
collapse, generating an enormous landslide in an event similar to that seen in the 1980
eruption of Mount St. Helens. The landslide left a large depression in the side of the
volcano, known as 'Valle del Bove'. Research published in 2006 suggested this occurred
around 8000 years ago, and caused a huge tsunami, which left its mark in several places in the
eastern Mediterranean. It may have been the reason the settlement of Atlit Yam, now below
sea level, was suddenly abandoned around that time.
The steep walls of the valley have suffered subsequent collapses on numerous occasions.
The strata exposed in the valley walls provide an important and easily accessible record
of Etna's eruptive history. The most recent collapse event at the summit
of Etna is thought to have occurred about 2,000 years ago, forming what is known as
the Piano Caldera. This caldera has been almost entirely filled by subsequent lava eruptions,
but is still visible as a distinct break in the slope of the mountain near the base of
the present-day summit cone. Eruptions
Historical eruptions Eruptions of Etna follow a variety of patterns.
Most occur at the summit, where there are currently five distinct craters—the Northeast
Crater, the Voragine, the Bocca Nuova, and the Southeast Crater Complex. Other eruptions
occur on the flanks, which have more than 300 vents ranging in size from small holes
in the ground to large craters hundreds of metres across. Summit eruptions can be highly
explosive and spectacular, but rarely threaten the inhabited areas around the volcano. In
contrast, flank eruptions can occur down to a few hundred metres altitude, close to or
even well within the inhabited areas. Numerous villages and small towns lie around or on
cones of past flank eruptions. Since the year AD 1600, at least 60 flank eruptions and
countless summit eruptions have occurred; nearly half of these have happened since the
start of the 20th century, and since 2000, Etna has had four flank eruptions—in 2001,
2002–2003, 2004–2005, and 2008-2009. Summit eruptions occurred in 2006, 2007–2008, January–April
2012, and again in July–October 2012. The first known record of eruption at Etna
is that of Diodorus Siculus. The Roman poet Virgil gave what was probably
a first-hand description of an eruption in the Aeneid:
In 396 BC, an eruption of Etna reportedly thwarted the Carthaginians in their attempt
to advance on Syracuse during the Second Sicilian War.
A particularly violent explosive summit eruption occurred in 122 BC, and caused heavy tephra
falls to the southeast, including the town of Catania, where many roofs collapsed. To
help with reconstruction after the devastating effects of the eruption, the Roman government
exempted the population of Catania from paying taxes for ten years.
During the first 1500 years AD, many eruptions have gone unreported; among the more significant
are: an eruption in about 1030 AD near Monte Ilice on the lower southeast flank, which
produced a lava flow that travelled about 10 km, reaching the sea north of Acireale;
the villages of Santa Tecla and Stazzo are built on the broad delta built by this lava
flow into the sea; an eruption in about 1160, from a fissure at only 350–450 m elevation
on the south-southeast flank near the village of Mascalucia, whose lava flow reached the
sea just to the north of Catania, in the area now occupied by the portion of the city named
Ognina. Etna's most destructive eruption since 122 BC
started on 11 March 1669 and produced lava flows that destroyed at least 10 villages
on its southern flank before reaching the city walls of the town of Catania five weeks
later, on 15 April. The lava was largely diverted by these walls into the sea to the south of
the city, filling the harbour of Catania. A small portion of lava eventually broke through
a fragile section of the city walls on the western side of Catania and destroyed a few
buildings before stopping in the rear of the Benedictine monastery, without reaching the
centre of the town. Contrary to widespread reports of up to 15,000 human fatalities caused
by the lava, contemporaneous accounts written both in Italian and English mention no deaths
related to the 1669 eruption, so it can be safely assumed that the enormous number of
fatalities often picked up also by the news media must be a confusion with the earthquake
that devastated southeast Sicily 24 years later, in 1693. A study on the damage and
fatalities caused by eruptions of Etna in historical times reveals that only 77 human
deaths are attributable with certainty to eruptions of Etna, most recently in 1987 when
two tourists were killed by a sudden explosion near the summit.
Recent eruptions
Large lava flow from an eruption in 1928 led to the first destruction of a population centre
since the 1669 eruption. The eruption firstly started high on Etna's northeast flank on
November 2. Then new eruptive fissures opened at ever lower elevation down the flank of
the volcano. The third and most vigorous of these fissures opened late on 4 November at
an unusually low elevation, approximately 1,200 m above sea-level, in a zone known
as Ripe della Naca. The village of Mascali, lying down-slope of the Ripe della Naca, suffered
obliteration in just two days, with the lava destroying nearly every building. Only a church
and a few surrounding buildings survived in the north part of the village, called Sant'Antonino
or "il quartiere". During the last days of the eruption, the flow interrupted the Messina-Catania
railway line and destroyed the train station of Mascali. The event was used by Benito Mussolini's
Fascist regime for propaganda purposes, with the evacuation, aid, and rebuilding operations
being presented as models of fascist planning. Mascali was rebuilt on a new site, and its
church contains the Italian fascist symbol of the torch, placed above the statue of Jesus
Christ. In early November 2008, the town of Mascali commemorated the 80th anniversary
of the eruption and destruction of the village with a number of public events where eyewitnesses
shared their memories of the eruption.
Other major 20th-century eruptions occurred in 1949, 1971, 1981, 1983 and 1991–1993.
In 1971, lava buried the Etna Observatory, destroyed the first generation of the Etna
cable-car, and seriously threatened several small villages on Etna's east flank. In March
1981, the town of Randazzo on the northwestern flank of Etna narrowly escaped destruction
by unusually fast-moving lava flows. That eruption was remarkably similar to one in
1928 that destroyed Mascali. The 1991–1993 eruption saw the town of Zafferana threatened
by a lava flow, but successful diversion efforts saved the town with the loss of only one building
a few hundred metres from the town's margin. Initially, such efforts consisted of the construction
of earth barriers built perpendicularly to the flow direction; it was hoped that the
eruption would stop before the artificial basins created behind the barriers would be
completely filled. Instead, the eruption continued, and lava surmounted the barriers, heading
directly toward Zafferana. Engineers then decided to use explosives near the source
of the lava flow, to disrupt a very efficient lava tube system through which the lava travelled
for up to 7 km without essentially losing heat and fluidity. The main explosion on 23
May 1992 destroyed the tube and forced the lava into a new artificial channel, far from
Zafferana, and it would have taken months to re-establish a long lava tube. Shortly
after the blasting, the rate of lava emission dropped, and during the remainder of the eruption
the lava never advanced close to the town again.
Following six years of unusually intense activity at the four summit craters of Etna, the volcano
produced its first flank eruption since 1991–1993 in July–August 2001. This eruption, which
involved activity from seven distinct eruptive fissures mostly on the south slope of the
volcano, was a mass-media eruption, because it occurred at the height of the tourist season
and numerous reporters and journalists were already in Italy to cover the G8 summit in
Genoa. It also occurred close to one of the tourist areas on the volcano, and thus was
easily accessible. Part of the "Etna Sud" tourist area, including the arrival station
of the Etna cable car, were damaged by this eruption, which otherwise was a rather modest-sized
event by Etna standards. In 2002–2003, a much larger eruption threw
up a huge column of ash that could easily be seen from space and fell as far away as
Libya, 600 km south across the Mediterranean Sea. Seismic activity in this eruption caused
the eastern flanks of the volcano to slip by up to two metres, and many houses on the
flanks of the volcano experienced structural damage. The eruption also completely destroyed
the tourist station Piano Provenzana, on the northeastern flank of the volcano, and part
of the tourist station "Etna Sud" around the Rifugio Sapienza on the south flank. Footage
from the eruptions was recorded by Lucasfilm and integrated into the landscape of the planet
Mustafar in the 2005 film Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. The Rifugio Sapienza
is near the site of a cable car station which had previously been destroyed in the 1983
eruption; it has now been rebuilt. Following a rather silent, slow and non-destructive
lava outflow on the upper southeastern flank between September 2004 and March 2005, intense
eruptions occurred at the Southeast Crater in July–December 2006. These were followed
by four episodes of lava fountaining, again at the Southeast Crater, on 29 March, 11 April,
29 April and 7 May 2007. Ash emissions and Strombolian explosions started from a vent
on the eastern side of the Southeast Crater in mid-August 2007.
On 4 September 2007 a spectacular episode of lava fountaining occurred from the new
vent on the east side of the Southeast Crater, also producing a plume of ash and scoriae
which fell over the east flank of the volcano. A lava flow travelled about 4.5 km into the
uninhabited Valle del Bove. This eruption was visible far into the plains of Sicily,
ending the following morning between the hours of 5 to 7 am local time. Catania-Fontanarossa
Airport shut down operations during the night for safety precautions.
An eruption on the morning of 13 May 2008, immediately to the east of Etna's summit craters
was accompanied by a swarm of more than 200 earthquakes and significant ground deformation
in the summit area. The eruption continued at a slowly diminishing rate for 417 days,
until 6 July 2009, making this the longest flank eruption of Etna since the 1991–1993
eruption that lasted 473 days. Previous eruptions, in 2001, 2002–2003, and 2004–2005 had
lasted 3 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months, respectively. Lava flows advanced 6.5 km during the first
few days of this eruption but thereafter stagnated at much minor distances from the vents; during
the last months of the eruption lava rarely advanced more than 1 km downslope.
Through January 2011 to February 2012, the summit craters of Etna were the site of intense
activity. Frequent eruptions and ash columns forced the authorities to shut down the Catania
airport on several occasions. The July 2011 episode also endangered the Sapienza Refuge,
the main tourist hub on the volcano, but the lava flow was successfully diverted. In 2014,
a flank eruption started involving lava flows and strombolian eruptions. This was the first
flank eruption since 2008-09[1] Smoke rings
In the 1970s Etna erupted smoke rings, one of the first captured events of this type,
which are extremely rare. This happened again in 2000. Video footage of the 8 June 2000
event was captured by a naturalist filmmaker Geoff Mackley., Another event occurred on
11 April 2013. Facilities
Etna is one of Sicily's main tourist attractions, with thousands of visitors every year. The
most common route is through the road leading to Sapienza Refuge, lying at the south of
the crater at elevation of 1910 m. It hosts a large parking, several bars, a hotel, and
is a starting point for the cable car. From the Refuge, a cableway runs uphill to the
elevation of 2500 m; from there, visitors can take a drive with special terrain vehicles,
or take a long walk to the designated crater area at 2920 m.
Ferrovia Circumetnea – Round-Etna railway – is a narrow-gauge railway constructed
between 1889 and 1895. It runs around the volcano in a 110-km long semi-circle starting
in Catania and ending in Riposto 28 km north of Catania.
There are two ski resorts on Etna: one at the Sapienza Refuge, with a chairlift and
three ski lifts, and a smaller one on the north, at Piano Provenzana, with three lifts
and a chairlift. See also
List of volcanoes in Italy Volcanic Seven Summits
Genista aetnensis, the Mount Etna broom Footnotes
References
External links Mount Etna Live Webcams