Mount Etna - Italy

Europe’s highest and most active Europe’s highest and most active volcano.volcano.

• Towering above the city of Catania on the island of Sicily, it has been growing for about 500,000 years and is in the midst of a series of eruptions that began in 2001.

• It has experienced a variety of eruption styles, including violent explosions and voluminous lava flows.

• More than 25% of Sicily’s population lives on Etna’s slopes, and it is the main source of income for the island, both from agriculture (due to its rich volcanic soil) and tourism.

Mount Etna: Eruption HistoryMount Etna: Eruption History

• Etna’s eruptions have been documented since 1500 BC, when eruptions forced people living in the east to migrate to western Sicily.

• The volcano has experienced more than 200 eruptions since then, although most are moderately small.

16691669

• Etna’s most powerful recorded eruption was in 1669, when explosions destroyed part of the summit and lava flows from a fissure on the volcano’s flank reached the sea and the town of Catania, more than ten miles away.

• This eruption was also notable as one of the first attempts to control the path of flowing lava.

• The Catanian townspeople dug a channel that drained lava away from their homes, but when the diverted lava threatened the village of Paterno, the inhabitants of that community drove away the Catanians and forced them to abandon their efforts.

17751775

• An eruption in 1775 produced large lahars when hot material melted snow and ice on the summit, and an extremely violent eruption in 1852 produced more than 2 billion cubic feet of lava and covered more than three square miles of the volcano’s flanks in lava flows.

TodayToday

• Etna’s longest eruption began in 1979 and went on for thirteen years; its latest eruption began in March 2007, and is still ongoing.

October 30,2002October 30,2002

• An oblique photograph of Mount Etna looking to the southeast taken by astronauts onboard the International Space Station on October 30,2002.

• The dark plume rising from the top of the volcano is an ash cloud.

• The broad white cloud streaming from areas of lower elevation is smoke produced by forest fires ignited as a hot lava flow moved through a pine forest.

• The ash and smoke caused air traffic to be diverted and forced the closing of roads, schools and businesses

Another viewAnother view

• An oblique photograph of Mount Etna on the west coast of the island of Sicily.

• This photo is looking to the southeast with the Mediterranean Sea in the background and was taken by astronauts onboard the International Space Station on October 30,2002.

• The scene shows the ash plume from the eruption being carried by wind across the Mediterranean Sea to Libya, over 350 miles away

• Mount Etna consists of two elements • An ancient shield volcano at its base, • A younger stratovolcano, which was built on top of the shield.• The volcano’s slopes currently host several large calderas which

formed when the roofs of magma chambers collapsed inward.• Etna’s current activity consists of continuous summit degassing,

explosive Strombolian eruptions, and frequent basaltic lava flows.• Ash clouds from the explosive eruptions are especially hazardous to

aircraft, since ash that is pulled into a jet engine can melt, coat moving parts with a layer of glass, and cause the engine to shut down.

• These dangerous ash clouds are often visible from space.

DamageDamage

• Etna has also produced pyroclastic flows, ash falls, and mudflows, but the lava flows are the most immediately hazardous type of activity, especially to the city of Catania.

• While the flows themselves usually do not move fast enough to threaten humans, they can cover large areas and destroy crops and buildings.

• In the event of a large flank (fissure) eruption, evacuating the inhabitants of towns and cities near the volcano would be a huge challenge.

CommunicationsCommunications

• Etna eruptions are frequently accompanied by minor earthquakes.

• Earthquake damage caused by tremors accompanying the Nov.2002 eruption

““Operation Volcano Buster”Operation Volcano Buster”

• There have been two attempts to control the path of lava flows threatening to destroy the town of Catania.

• The first was in 1669, and the second was in 1992. During the 1992 attempt, the United States Marines worked with Italian volcanologists to develop “Operation Volcano Buster”, in which they used explosives to blast a hole in a lava tunnel on Etna’s flank and then dropped large blocks of concrete into the hole to try and stem the flow of the lava.

• Like the 1669 attempt, however, this plan was ultimately unsuccessful.

Human-made diversion of lava Human-made diversion of lava flows at Mt Etna in 1992.flows at Mt Etna in 1992.

During the 1992 eruption of Etna earthworks are used to save the town of Zafferana Etnea from lava flows.

• In January 1992 an earth barrier 234 m long and 21 m high was constructed.

• The embankment contained lava for about a month and was overflowed on 9th April 1992.

• Three additional smaller earthen barriers (length: 90-160 m; height: 6-12 m ) were built in April to gain time while the lava front was descending towards Zafferana from the overflowed first embankment.

• .

• The main intervention point was located in Valle del Bove at an elevation of 2000 m, at 8 km from Zafferana.

• Initial interventions called for attempts at plugging a tunnel by dumping into it linked concrete blocks, hedgehogs and blasted portions of the solid levee.

• Each intervention caused the partial obstruction of the tunneled channel, which determined major increases of lava overflow in Valle del Bove and the consequent halt of the most advanced fronts.

• The intervention gave at the most two weeks of respite, before new lava fronts approached the outskirts of Zafferana.

• The final successful intervention was carried out on May 27-29, 1992.

• An artificial channel was dug departing from the natural one.

• The solid separation levee was thinned to 3 m and blasted by 7000 kg of explosives.

• After the explosion, 2/3 of the lava flowed spontaneously in the artificial channel.

• As a consequence of the intervention the active natural lava front, that on May 27 was only 850 m from Zafferana stopped

March 2000, March 2000,

• Volcanologists have witnessed dramatic rings of steam and gas being blown out of volcanic vents on the side of mighty Mount Etna in Sicily.