Sicily holidays by Volcano Etna

Discover the wonderful of the 2° most active volcano of the World

Mount Etna is Europe’s largest volcano, and probably the second most active volcano on Earth.

A general description

The history of mount Etna is made of frequent periods of intermittent to persistent activity in the summit area and from new vents on its flanks every 1-20 years. The main feature of Etnean activity is voluminous lava emission, but strong explosive activity occurs occasionally, mostly from its four summit craters. Some of the eruptions from its flanks also show high degrees of explosivity, such as those in 1669, 1879, and 2002-2003.

There are a lot of interesting facts about mount Etna. First, it has the longest record of historical eruptions among all volcanoes on this planet. The total number of mount etna eruptions is 209. the spectacular summit eruptions of 1995-2001, the flank eruption of July-August 2001, the modest summit eruptions of the summer of 2002, the dramatic flank eruption that lasted from October 2002 to January 2003, up to the years 2004-2006 when occurred powerful earthquakes, explosions with the production of ash in central craters.

The Sicilian volcano lies in a complex rifting environment hardly comparable to any other region on Earth. Among the few information about mount Etna quite well understood is the fact that the volcano in Sicily is placed at the intersection of several major regional fault systems. This fact probably facilitates the upraise of magma right in this place.

Formation of the Etna

The Etna has been formed approximately 80 million years ago. The first eruptions were submarine, some testimonies of activity can be found in the zone between Acicastello and Acitrezza. The activities in the area of the Sicilian volcano began about 0.5 million years ago with the emission of tholeitic magmas in a submarine environment.

This early phase of volcanic activity is named “Pre-Etnean”. The second phase of volcanism at Etna, called “Ancient Etna”, began with more localized eruptions. The third phase of Etnean volcanism is named “Trifoglietto II” and was characterized by the building of several overlapping strato volcanoes leading to a much more explosive volcanism. The fourth phase saw the growth of the Mongibello stratovolcano. After this period of trachytic magmatism, the activity became predominantly effusive.

The Morphology of the volcano

The reason for this complexity is that Etna grow as a succession of volcanic edifices whose centers shifted from one place to another. The Etna is 3350 meters high. In its summit there are 4 eruptive mouths:

 

• The central craters, wide 250 meters
• The New Mouth formed in 1968
• The Crater of north-east formed in 1911
• The Crater of south-east formed in 1971

The south-east crater is always active with the emission of lava, ashes and gases. The oriental slope of the volcano is characterized by a deep valley, called “Valle del Bove”, long 8 km and wide 5 km. Its walls are the rests of overlapped products erupted in thousand of years. In this valley there is a volcanic desert that is the most compatible terrain on the Earth similar to Mars.

The eruptions of Mt Etna

The activity of Etna during the past few thousand years has been characterized by lava emission and Strombolian activity, punctuated at times by more explosive episodes from the summit craters.
There are two types of volcanic eruptions: effusive and explosive. On the Etna the are mainly effusive eruptions not dangerous for the population. The explosive eruption are rare and limited at the summit craters.

The list of mt Etna eruptions is the longest of any volcano in the world.

The past 400 years in the eruptive history of Etna are characterized by several changes in the eruptive behavior. From 1600 until 1669: occurred 8 flank eruptions in various sectors of the volcano. Some of them had an unusually long duration and volume.

The culminating and concluding event of that period was the devastating eruption of 1669 and one of its most violent and voluminous historical flank. That eruption destroys Nicolosi and 16 villages, among them Belpasso, S. Pietro Clarenza, Mascalucia, Camporotondo, Misterbianco, and partially S. Giovanni Galermo. The lava flow breaks through the city walls of Catania, and enters into the sea.

After the 1669 eruption, the output was presumably very low for a century. There were only three relatively minor flank eruptions: 1689, 1702 and 1755: all of which occurred within the Valle del Bove on the eastern flank of the volcano.

Eruption of 1669.
This eruption was preceded by local earthquakes, and on 11 March was opened a gash from Nicolosi end nearly to the central craters. In the inferior part were opened various explosive mouths whose materials gave life to various hills, between which the so called “Red mounts“.

The most destructive eruption during the 20th century occurred in November 1928 where was destroyed the the small town of Mascali.

Eruption of 1971
This eruption can be subdivided in two parts. In the first phase the lava arrived to the base of the south east crater centers. Lava flowed to the Bove valley and towards the Montagnola. Lava destroyed the old Astronomical Observatory and a part of the old cable cars. During the second phase, were opened many fissures inside the Bove valley. Was formed a new crater that would become the south-east crater.

Eruption of 1998.
The magma came out from a fracture from the south-east crater and created small dense lava taps. After a great outbreak there was the beginning of a the new activity of the central crater. During August of the same year the Etna alternated violent outbreaks accompanied by small earthquakes and violent roars. From another fracture of the south east crater, the lava flowed into the Bove valley to quote 2600 meters.

The Eruption of 2001
It was one of the most complex eruptive events of this volcano in the past few centuries.
During 2001, the main activity was concentrated on the Southeast Crater. The lava emission rate increased and was followed by a vigorous Strombolian activity and lava fountains.

The eruptions of 2002-2003
These eruption are characterized by the production of 2 different magma at the same time, one similar to the magma emitted during eruptions of the past 3 centuries, and the other was quite different from anything Etna had emitted for about 15,000 years.

The 2003 eruption was more violent and more devastating than the previous one of 2001. There were fissures on 2 sides of the volcano. The eruption showed a declining trend, it ended on late 2003.

The eruption of 2006
This recent eruption start on 14 July with a fissure opened on the east flank of the South-East Crater cone. Two vents along the fissure produced a lava flow spreading to the Valle del Bove. Moderate strombolian activity produced a little ash fallout on Catania during the opening phase of the eruptive fissure.

The lava flow field reached a peak on 20 July, when the flow reached a maximum distance of about 3 km within the Valle del Bove. The lava front widened at least 15 km distance from the closest villages. This eruption finished on 24 July.

As on 26 July, strong explosions were heard from the rim of the North-East Crater, and lapilli fell on the crater rim. Strombolian eruptions continued in September reaching over 1 km in length by mid-September.

After that Strombolian emissions continued at the SEC . Both lava flow effusions and explosive–strombolian activity continued until 27 September, when both stopped, following a sudden decrease in volcanic tremor.

The next episode started on the late afternoon of 3 October with Strombolian explosions from the SEC summit, which increased in vigor during the following hours, and lava began to spill down the SE side of the SEC cone adjacent to flows of the previous two episodes.

A third eruptive episode occurred on 10 October, with vigorous Strombolian activity and lava descending from the SE flank of the SEC cone.

Episodic eruptive activity continued at the Southeast Crater of Etna (SEC) through late November 2006, involving a number of explosive and effusive vents.

Episodic erupting activity continued at the South-East Crater of Etna (SEC) until December 2006, involving a number of explosive and effusive vents on and around the SEC cone.

The eruption of 2007

The etna summit area

The Etna history has been characterized by the construction of numerous volcanic edifices and catastrophic collapse of these structures that caused the formation of Valle del Bove, crater and cones.

Etna’s eastern flank suffered a catastrophic collapse. A huge depression was thus formed in the side of the volcano, now known as Valle del Bove. Its north-south width is 5.5 km while its extension from west to east is 7 km. it is roughly horse-shoe shaped.

The circumstances, the age and mt etna info of the collapse that created the Valle del Bove have remained mysterious for a long time. Before the collapse, there were probably ice and snow fields in the summit area of the volcano, which fed a number of rivers .

The Valle del Bove is a very important area for studies of the geological evolution of Etna and for finding mount etna information, for in its walls the traces of numerous older edifices pre-dating the presently active volcano are exposed. Here the first evidence for the eventful history of the volcano has been found.

The Summit activity occurs at 4 craters: the Voragine and the Bocca Nuova, which lie in the area of the former Central Crater, and the Northeast (NE) and Southeast (SE) Craters.

In 1968, a small pit , the Bocca Nuova (new mouth), was opened on the West flank of the large cone formed in 1964 around the Voragine.

The Southeast Crater life began during the 1971 eruption.

Northeast Craters birth occurred in a period characterized by Strombolian bursts and slow lava effusion. The largest of these formed in 1970 and was nicknamed “Nordestino” (little Northeast) by the local mountain guides.

The size of the flank cones varies significantly depending on the explosivity and duration of an eruption. One of the most impressive chains of eruptive cones is Monti Silvestri near Rifugio Sapienza - Nicolosi, on the southern flank of Etna.

Some of etna cones are:

 

• Monte Moio, composed by 2 overlapping cones with three craters.
• Monti Rossi, the cone of the 1669 eruption on Etna’s south flank. The cone is now a public park.
• Montagnola is a large pyroclastic cone formed in the 1763 eruption.
• Monti Calcarazzi were built by another eruption 3 year later. In 1892, an eruption led to the formation of yet another crater row, the Monti Silvestri.

The caves
The caves of the Etna are the only caves of volcanic origin existing in all Europe. There are more than Two hundreds cave available.
Essentially there are two types of caves:

 

1. The lava Tunnel
2. Caves in fracture, with vertical course, difficult to explore.

Here the list of some of the volcanic caves on the Etna:

 

• Cave of Ices, to approximately 2000 meters high on the North side
• Cave of the Raspberries, to 1700 high, in the North side.

 

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