Mount Etna
Mount Etna (or Aetna) is an active volcano on the east coast of Sicily (Italian Sicilia), close to Messina and Catania. It is 3,323 m (10,902 ft) high. On the safe part of its hills a famous wine is produced.
The Mount Etna ash plume of October 2002, photographed by astronauts on the International Space Station. The view looks toward the southeast. The light coloured smoke is due to forest fires caused by lava on the volcano's north face.
A more detailed version of this image (1 MB, 3000x2000 pixels) can be found 
| Table of contents |
|
2 Recent eruptions 3 Ancient eruptions 4 Other Detail - requires heavy editing |
Appearance and height
Mount Etna is about three times higher than Vesuvius, rising to 3323m above the level of the sea, and about 140 km circumference at its base.
According to Carey's translation of Pindar:
Recent eruptions
Etna is highly active, and currently the volcano has an eruption every few years. The constant monitoring, and the relative tranquillity of these eruptions, mean that there is no danger to human life. But sometimes, the lava streams burn down houses and gardens. On at least one occasion, a big lava stream has been diverted to a nearby empty valley to protect a village, though others have been lost.Ancient eruptions
Only vague records of Etna's ancient eruptions survive. The Greek poet Pindar is the earliest writer who makes mention of its activity. He refers to it in his First Pythian Ode of about 470 BC, Strophe B, 1. The eruption discussed probably took place shortly before that date, since when there have been about 60 (?) recorded eruptions.
Virgil also describes the mountain very forcibly in the Æneid,
lib. iii. 570. Dryden's translation reads:--
- ''The port capacious, and secure from wind,
- Is to the foot of thund'ring Etna joined.
- By turns a pitchy cloud she rolls on high:
- By turns hot embers from her entrails fly,
- And flakes of mounting flames, that lick the sky.
- Oft from her bowels massy rocks are thrown,
- And shivered by the force come piece-meal down.
- Oft liquid lakes of burning sulphur flow,
- Fed from the fiery springs that boil below."
Other Detail - requires heavy editing
Owing to the great height of Mount Etna, the lava seldom rises so far as to flow from the summit. It more frequently bursts forth from the flanks of the mountain; and in this manner there have been formed numerous smaller cones, of which several have craters of their own. Hence Etna is rather a group of volcanoes than a single cone; but all these subordinate volcanic hills cluster round the flanks of the great central summit. Some of these hills are covered with forests and rich vegetation, having enjoyed a lengthy rest from further lava flows. Others are still arid and bare, having been more recently formed. Owing to this peculiarity in its structure, Etna does not present the conical aspect which characterizes many other volcanoes. There are caverns on the sides of the mountain, which the Sicilians used for storing ice before the invention of refrigerators. Some of these caverns are large; one, called Fossa della Palomba measures 190 m in circumference at its entrance, and has a depth of about 24 m. This great cavity, however, forms merely the vestibule to a series of others, which are perfectly dark.Another striking feature of Mount Etna is the Val del Bove. It is a deep valley, presenting, when viewed from above, somewhat of the appearance of an amphitheatre. It stretches from near the summit down to the upper limit of the wooded region of the mountain, and has a remarkably desolate aspect, presenting a vast expanse of bare and rugged lava.
The principal cone of Mount Etna was ascended in 1834 by Messrs.
Elie de Beaumont and Leopold von Buch. The former describes what
they saw in the following terms:--"It was to us a moment of
surprise difficult to describe, when we found ourselves
unexpectedly on the margin--not, indeed, of the great crater--but
of an almost circular gulf, nearly three hundred feet in diameter,
which does not touch the great crater save at a small part of its
circumference. We peered eagerly into this nearly cylindrical
funnel; but vain was our search into the secret of its volcanic
action. From the almost horizontal tops of the nearly vertical
steeps, nothing can be descried but the upper cone. On trying to
reckon those one below another, vision becomes gradually lost in
the perfect darkness beneath. No sound issues from this darkness.
There are only exhaled slightly sulphurous white vapours, chiefly
steam. The dismal aspect of this black and silent gulf, in which
our view was lost--its dark moist sides, along which crept, in a
languid and monotonous manner, long flakes of vapour of a sombre
gray--the great crater to which this narrow gulf is attached, with
its confused heap of diverse substances, coloured yellow, gray,
red, like the image of chaos--all presented around us an aspect
quite funereal and sepulchral."
The French geologist, in having escaped from his visit to the
crater with nothing worse than a fit of the vapours, came off
better than Empedocles, the Sicilian philosopher, in the days of
old: for, as the story goes, this inquisitive sage, being very
anxious to have a peep into the crater, and venturing too near,
toppled in altogether, and nothing more was seen of him, except one
of his sandals, which was vomited up by the volcano--thus conveying
to his friends an intimation of the manner of his death.1669 Formation of Monti Rossi
Of the numerous eruptions of Etna, one of the most memorable was that of 1669, when an immense rent about 20 km long formed on the flank of the mountain above Nicolosi, about half way between Catania and the top of the great crater, from which a vast torrent of lava descended. After flowing for several miles, and destroying a part of Catania in its course, it entered the sea. This formed a small promontory, which has since proved very useful as a breakwater. As well as this lava flow, large quantities of ashes, cinders, stones, and other material were thrown up at the same time. This formed two conical hills, more than 100 m in height above the slope of the mountain from which they rose, and measuring nearly 3 km in circumference at their base. These hills were named Monti Rossi.Eruption of 1852 -- Whirlwinds -- Lava torrents
An eruption in 1852 was of great violence. It began with hollow underground rumblings, and the ascent of dense columns of vapour, mingled with dust and ashes, high into the air. These were speedily whirled into enormous eddies by fierce whirlwinds. Two new mouths were formed on the side of the mountain, and these vomited forth immense streams of lava, which rushed with the vehemence of a torrent down the steep. The violence of the commotion increasing, the two mouths were, by the crumbling of the intervening rocks, blended into one, and then huge fragments of the broken rock were hurled to a great height, along with vast quantities of hot stones, cinders, and black sand. Increasing quantities of lava were now poured from the greatly enlarged opening, and these formed on the plains below a great river of liquid fire, nearly two miles in breadth, and between seven and eight feet in depth, which advanced at the rate of upwards of a hundred feet in an hour, carrying before it devastation and ruin. Its course being through a highly cultivated country, the damage it inflicted was immense. This eruption continued for several months, with only short intervals of rest. Mount Etna was again active in 1865.Cascades of lava
It has more than once happened, that the lava-streams of Etna, in
their descent from the crater of eruption, have come to a
precipitous wall of rock, over which they have plunged in a cascade
similar to that formed by the lava of Vesuvius in 1855, but on a
less magnificent scale, as respects the height of the fall. One of
these occasions was during the eruption of 1771, and another during
that of 1819.Description of crater
Empedocles