Etna with the city of Catania in the foreground
|Elevation||3,350 m (10,990 ft), (varies)|
|Prominence||3,329.6 m (10,924 ft)
|Type||Stratovolcano (composite type)|
|Age of rock||350,000 - 500,000 years|
|Last eruption||2013 to 2015 (ongoing)|
|Easiest route||mountain bike|
|UNESCO World Heritage Site
|Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List|
|Criteria||vii, viii, ix|
|Inscription||2013 (37th Session)|
Mount Etna (Italian: Etna, Sicilian: Mungibeddu or a Muntagna, Latin: Aetna) is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Province of Catania, between Messina and Catania. It lies above the convergent plate margin between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is the tallest active volcano on the European continent, currently 3,329 m (10,922 ft) high, though this varies with summit eruptions. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps. Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 (459 sq mi) with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three active volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. Only Mount Teide in Tenerife surpasses it in the whole of the European–North-African region. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under this mountain by Zeus, the god of the sky and thunder and king of gods, and the forges of Hephaestus were said to also be located underneath it.
Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity. The fertile volcanic soils support extensive agriculture, with vineyards and orchards spread across the lower slopes of the mountain and the broad Plain of Catania to the south. Due to its history of recent activity and nearby population, Mount Etna has been designated a Decade Volcano by the United Nations. In June 2013, it was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
According to Adrian Room’s book Place-names of the World, the name Etna originated from the Phoenician word attuna meaning "furnace" or "chimney". He dismisses the hypothesis that Etna is from the Greek αἴθω (aithō) - meaning "I burn" - through an iotacist pronunciation. In Classical Greek, it is called Αἴτνη (Aítnē), a name given also to Catania and the city originally known as Inessa, and in Latin it is called Aetna. In Arabic, it was called جبل النار Jabal al-Nār (the Mountain of Fire).
It is also known as Mungibeddu in Sicilian and Mongibello or Montebello in Italian (An Italian corrupted word literally meaning Monte mountain and Bello meaning beautiful, but is actually thought to be from the Latin mons and the Arabic جبل jabal, both meaning mountain, producing a tautological place name, "mountain mountain"). The term is not in common use today, although some older people still call it this. According to another hypothesis the term Mongibello comes from the Latin Mulciber (qui ignem mulcet, who placates the fire), one of the Latin names of the god Vulcan.
The people of the Etna sometimes use the jargon term 'a muntagna, simply "the mountain" par excellence.
History of volcanic eruptionsEdit
Volcanic activity first took place at Etna about half a million years ago, with eruptions occurring beneath the sea off the ancient coastline of Sicily. About 300,000 years ago, volcanism began occurring to the southwest of the summit (center top of volcano) then, before activity moved towards the present centre 170,000 years ago. Eruptions at this time built up the first major volcanic edifice, forming a stratovolcano in alternating explosive and effusive eruptions. The growth of the mountain was occasionally interrupted by major eruptions, leading to the collapse of the summit to form calderas.
From about 35,000 to 15,000 years ago, Etna experienced some highly explosive eruptions, generating large pyroclastic flows, which left extensive ignimbrite deposits. Ash from these eruptions has been found as far away as south of Rome's border, 800 km (497 mi) to the north.
Thousands of years ago, the eastern flank of the mountain experienced a catastrop