Sixty seconds .. on why Mount Etna is so famous
Latest eruption on 6th April, 2024 (with gas rings): https://www.tiktok.com/@planetevent/video/7354796232537165098
- Mount Etna, or simply Etna, is the most active (strato) volcano in the world; erupting several times a year.
- It’s located on the east coast of Sicily (Italy), between the cities of Messina and Catania.
- The name comes from the Greek Aitne, from aithō, ‘I burn’.
- It is located above the margin between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate. It is one of the tallest active volcanoes in Europe, and the tallest peak in Italy south of the Alps with a current height of about 3,350m (though this varies with summit eruptions.
- Over a six-month period in 2021, Etna erupted so much volcanic material that its height increased by approximately 100 ft (30 m), and the southeastern crater is now the tallest part of the volcano.
- Etna has a 150 km circumference (93 miles), 35 km diameter (22 miles), and covers an area of 600 square miles (1,600 square km).
- This makes it by far the largest of three active volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius.
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 also to be underneath it.
Mount Etna is in a constant state of activity.
Other resource
Last Reviewed on 7 April 2024