The Italian National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology reported an eruption on Mount Stromboli, a volcanic island off the east coast of southern Italy, to the north of Sicily, slightly after 10.15 am local time on Monday 16 November 2020. The eruption produced an ash column that rose about a kilometre above the volcano (unusually large for Stromboli), as well as a pyroclastic flow. Nobody was hurt by this event, but people in the area have reported falls of ash and pumice.
An ash column and pyroclastic flow on Mount Stromboli on Monday 16 November 2020. ABC.
Stromboli has been in more-or-less constant eruption since at least Roman times,
and is thought to be about 5000 years old, though it is not generally
considered dangerous if not approached closely; there are three
settlements on the island, all less than three kilometres from the
summit. Stromboli is noted for frequent small explosive eruptions, which
through lava bombs, ash and incandescent rock fragments out of the
crater, a type of eruption known by vulcanologists around the world as
'strombolian'. The summit rises 924 m above sea level.
Southeastern Italy lies on the edge of the Eurasian Plate, close to its
margin with Africa. The African Plate is being subducted beneath Italy
on along a margin that cuts through the island of Sicily. The African
plate is being subducted beneath Italy, and as it sinks is melted by the
friction and heat of the Earth's interior. Some of the melted material
then rises through the overlying plate fuelling the volcanoes of
southern Italy.
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