Mount Etna
From the Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia that anyone can change
Mount Etna is an active volcano on the east coast of Sicily, southern Italy. It is the largest active volcano in Europe and the largest of the active volcanoes in Italy. Mount Etna erupts every few years.
[change] Newest eruptions
A very large lava flow from an eruption in 1928 led to the first destruction of a town since the 1669 eruption. In this case, each building of the town of Mascali was destroyed in just two days.
Other major twentieth century eruptions occurred in 1949, 1971, 1983 and 1992, as well as the twenty-first century 2001 eruption. In 1971, it buried the Etna Observatory (built in the late 19th century) under lava. The 1992 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 outside it.
In 2002-2003, the biggest series of eruptions for many years threw up a huge column of ash that could easily be seen from space and fell as far away as Libya, on the far side of 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 got structural damage. The eruption also completely destroyed the Rifugio Sapienza, on the southern flank of the volcano.
[change] References
- Chester, D. K.; Duncan, A. M., Guest, J. E., and Kilburn, C. R. J. (1985). Mount Etna: The Anatomy of a Volcano. Stanford University Press, 412 pp. ISBN 0-8047-1308-1.
[change] Other websites
- Mount Etna Live Webcam
- Italy's Volcanoes: The Cradle of Volcanology, with detailed information of Italy's volcanoes, including Etna
- Stromboli Online, with info on Etna as well as excellent photo galleries and video clips of Etna's past eruptions including those of the 1990s and the 2000s
