Mount Etna, also known simply as Etna, which is situated on the east coast of Sicily, is an active stratovolcano between the cities of Messina, Italy, and Catania. It is located above the convergent edge between the African and Eurasian plates.
With a current height of 3,357 m, It is one of Europe’s highest active volcanoes and Italy’s tallest mountain south of the Alps; however, this changes depending on summit eruptions. Etna spewed so much volcanic debris over six months in 2021 that its height climbed by about 100 feet, and the southeastern crater is now the tallest area of the volcano.
Etna has a surface size of 1,190 km2 and a radius of 140 km. This form is, without a doubt, the best of Italy’s three active volcanoes, standing roughly two and a half times the height of Mount Vesuvius. In the entire European-North African region west of the Black Sea, only Mount Teide in Tenerife in the Canary Islands surpasses it.
In Greek mythology, Zeus, the god of the sky and thunder and king of gods, locked the terrible monster Typhon beneath this mountain, and Hephaestus’ forges were also thought to be beneath it.
volcanoes Mount Etna
One of the ultimate alive volcanoes on the planet, Mount Etna is basically forever alive. The vast Plain of Catania to the south and the mountain’s lower slopes are covered in vineyards and orchards, which are supported by the rich volcanic soils. Mount Etna has been named a Decade Volcano by the UN because of its recent history of activity and its close population. It was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list in June 2013.
About Mythology and Etymology in Mount Etna
According to one theory, the word Etna derives from the Greek, pronounced iotacism, meaning “I burn.” The term attunes, which means “furnace” or “chimney” in Phoenician, is another theory for the name’s origin. It is known as “v” in Classical Greek, a name also given to Catania and the city that was formerly known as Inessa. Its name is Aetna in Latin. It is referred to as Jabal al-Nr in Arabic.
The blacksmithing forge of the god Vulcan is said to have been located beneath Mount Etna in both Greek and Roman mythology. The Roman god of blacksmithing was Vulcan. The volcano is also referred to as Mongibello or Montebello in Italian and Muncibbeu in Sicilian. Another theory is that the word “Montebello” is derived from the Latin word “dulcimer.”one of the Roman god Vulcan’s Latin names.
Another hypothesis states that Mongibello is derived from the Arabic term Jabal and the Italian word monte, both of which imply “mountain.”
The two central craters on Mount Etna and the craters to the southeast and northeast of the volcanic cone are collectively referred to as Mongibello today.
History of volcanic eruptions in Mount Etna
Etna eruptions have a variety of patterns. The majority occur in the Northeast Crater, the Voragine, the Bocca Nuova, and two in the Southeast Crater Complex, among the five unique craters at the summit. On the flanks, where there are more than 300 vents ranging in size from tiny holes in the ground to enormous craters hundreds of meters wide, other eruptions occur.
Although spectacular and explosive, summit eruptions rarely pose a threat to the volcano’s surrounding populated areas. In contrast, hand eruptions can happen at elevations as depressed as any hundred meters, close to or even deep into populated regions. Small towns and numerous villages are located near or on the cones of previous flank eruptions.
At least 60 flank eruptions and numerous summit eruptions have occurred since AD 1600, with approximately half of these occurring since the turn of the twentieth century. Etna has produced four flank eruptions since 2000: in clouding 2001, 2002-2003, 2004-2005, and 2008-2009. Summit eruptions occurred in the years 2006, 2007-2008, January-April 2012, July-October 2012, December 2018, and February 2021, respectively.
Geological history
Etna’s volcanic activity began around 500,000 years ago, with eruptions happening beneath the sea near Sicily’s historic shoreline. Volcanism started at about 300,000 before going to the southwest of the top, therefore switched to the current center of 170,000 before.
At this time, varying explosives and profuse eruptions made the first main easily upset or inspired structure, making a stratovolcano. The mountain’s growth was intermittently interrupted by large eruptions, which caused the summit to fall and produce calderas.
Etna underwent some highly explosive eruptions between 35,000 and 15,000 years ago, resulting in huge pyroclastic flows and vast ignimbrite deposits. Ash from these eruptions has been discovered 800 kilometers to the north, south of Rome.
Thousands of years ago, the mountain’s eastern flank collapsed catastrophically, resulting in a massive landslide similar to the Mount St. Helens eruption of 1980. The landslide created the ‘Valle del Bove’, a massive dip in the volcano’s flank. According to research published in 2006, this occurred roughly 8,000 years ago and resulted in a massive tsunami that left its mark in various locations in the eastern Mediterranean.
Historical eruptions
Diodorus Siculus made the first recorded report of an eruption on Etna. An artist’s rendering of the 1766 eruption. During the Second Sicilian War, an eruption of Etna purportedly stopped the Carthaginians’ effort to move on Syracuse in 396 BCE.
In 122 BCE, a particularly strong explosive summit eruption triggered meaningful tephra begins the southeast, containing the metropolis of Catania, place many roofs foundered. To aid with restoration following the terrible consequences of the eruption, the Roman government spared Catania’s residents from paying taxes for ten years.
In the Aeneid, the Roman poet Virgil described an explosion that was most likely firsthand.
Many eruptions went unrecorded (or were lost) during the first 1500 years CE; the more important are:
(1) an ejection in about 1030 CE familiar Monte Ilice on the lower southeast side, that presented a basalt flow that well-traveled about 10 km, arriving at the lake northward of Acireale; the villages of Santa Tecla and Stazzo are buxom on the broad plain bordering a river erected by this magma flow into the ocean; and (2) an eruption in about 1160 from a fissure at only 350-450.
Modern-day eruptions (1928–present day)
Eruptions happen frequently as Europe’s most active volcano. Over the last century, several eruptions of note have occurred.
For the first occasion, because of the 1669 ejection, a significant lava flow from an eruption in 1928 destroyed a populated center. The eruption began high on Etna’s northeast flank on November 2, and the new, eruptive cracks appeared at decreasing heights down the volcano’s side.
The second and most severe of these fissures went off late on November 4 at an unusually depressed promotion, around 1,200 meters above sea level, in the Ripe della Naca zone. Mascali, located downslope of the Ripe della Naca, was nearly destroyed in two days. Just a church and a few surrounding buildings remained in the village’s northern section, known as Sant’Antonino or “il quartiere.”
The train station of Mascali was destroyed in the eruption’s last days. The occurrence was secondhand by Mussolini’s dictator rule for hype purposes, accompanying the removal, aid, and restoration movements being bestowed as models of dictator preparation. The Italian fascist symbol of the torch is on top of the statue of Jesus Christ in Mascali’s church.
In the 20th century, there were major eruptions in 1971 and 1983. In 1971 lava buried the Observatory, ruined the first production of the grip car, and endangered various limited villages on the Orient ham. In March 1981, the metropolis of Randazzo on the northwestern side of Etna closed out devastation. That eruption was very similar to the one that destroyed Mascali in 1928.
Geopolitical boundaries Mount Etna in Sicily
The inhabitants of ten villages (Adrano, Biancavilla, Belpasso, Bronte (both sides), Castiglione di Sicilia, Maletto, Nicolosi, Randazzo, Sant’Alfio, and Zafferana Etnea) are located at the top of Etna, which makes it more ten times.
Facilities of Mount Etna in Sicily
Mount Etna is one of Sicily’s biggest tourist attractions, receiving thousands of tourists every year. The most popular route is to the Refugi de Sapienza ski resort, south of the caldera, at 1,910 meters above sea level. From the refuge, a cable car goes up to 2,500 meters above sea level, where you can reach the crater area at 2,920 meters above sea level.
Ferrovia Circumetnea – Ferrocarril Round-Etna – is a narrow-gauge railway built between 1889 and 1895. It circles the volcano in a circuit of 110 kilometers, starting in Catania and ending in Riposto, 28 kilometers north of Catania. You can find two ski resorts on Etna: one at Sapienza Refuge with one and three cable cars, and a smaller ski resort in the northward at Piano Provenzana familiar Linguaglossa accompanying three and individual tram.
