In the early hours of May 30, the sensors of the monitoring network of the Italian Institute for Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) recorded a sudden increase of the volcanic tremors, a signal usually associated with shallow movements of magmatic fluids. At 5:35 am, local time, two effusive fissures opened at the southeastern and northern base […]
In the 19th century the volcanology as proper science was not born yet. However, some among the naturalists were fascinated by those particular mountains and they can be regarded as pioneering volcanologists. Sir. Charles Daubeny, Professor of Chemistry in the University of Oxford, commissioned this map to show the comparison among several volcanoes in the […]
It is well known that the volcanic gas is the main controlling factor during an eruption. It’s the gas that drives the magma from the deep to the shallower layers and then until the surface. It’s the gas ruling the style of the eruption, whether explosive or effusive. In summary the range of behaviours of […]
On December 26, 2018, at 3:19 AM (local time), a 4.8 magnitude earthquake struck the lower eastern flank of Mount Etna. The earthquake was the strongest in a period of intense seismic activity, and came two days later the beginning of a brief flank eruption begun on Dec. 24. The earthquake caused an almost continue […]
On March 11, 2019 will fall the 350th anniversary of the greatest eruption occurred at Mt. Etna in historic time. It was a flank eruption connected to the SE rift: explosive craters formed at about 800 m asl (today called “Monti Rossi”) and a lava flow spread southwards reaching the coast in correspondence of the […]
