Eruption on Mount Etna showers nearby communities with pebbles.

Mount Etna underwent a major eruption from its southeastern crater on Tuesday 16 February 2021, according to the Italian National Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology. The eruption produced new lava flows, and showers of ash and pebble-sized lapilli (rock fragments) as far away as Catania Airport (which was temporarly closed as a result), but is not thought to have presented any danger to nearby communities.

 

An ash column over Mount Etna on 16 February 2021. Salvatore Allegra/AP.

Etna first erupted about half a million years ago, beneath the sea off the east coast of Sicily, and has been going strong ever since. It now stands 3330 m above sea level, and covers 1200 km³. It is responsible for fertile soils across eastern Sicily. Records of eruptions on Etna go back to 1500 BC. It is Europe's second largest volcano, after Teide in the Canary Islands, and is one of the most active volcanoes in the world.

 

Lava fountain on Mount Etna on 16 February 2021. ANSA/AFP.

Despite all this Etna has only ever caused 77 recorded deaths (the most recent being two tourists caught in a summit explosion in 1987) and relatively little destruction. In 1928 it destroyed the village of Mascali on its northeastern flank, though there were no reported casualties, the village being slowly overrun by a lava flow. In 1669 a much larger lava flow destroyed at least 10 villages, reaching the walls of the city of Catania, 40 km to the south, but again without loss of life. In 122 BC a heavy ash fall covered much of the region, causing several buildings to collapse in Catania. The destruction was deemed so severe by the Roman authorities that they granted the city a 10 year tax holiday. In about 6000 BC a landslide on the eastern flank of the volcano is thought to have caused a tsunami that caused destruction around much of the eastern Mediterranean. 

 

The location of Mount Etna. Google Maps.

Etna is located on the border of the African and European Plates, specifically where Africa is being subducted beneath the European Plate. As it is drawn into the Earth's interior material from the African Plate melts, and the lighter portions rise up through the overlying European Plate, causing a number of volcanoes including Etna and Vesuvius.

 

Map showing the tectonic plates underlying Italy and southern Europe, and the location of the l'Aquila Earthquake. Napoli Unplugged.

See also...

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Facebook.

Follow Sciency Thoughts on Twitter.