‼️🇮🇹🌋 4.5 kilometers of ash: Mount #Etna erupts in #Italy
Due to ash clouds, Catania airport announced its temporary closure. “The runway is unusable due to significant volcanic ash fall,” the airport management company said in a statement.
Etna is the highest active volcano… pic.twitter.com/tmrz28dvG8
— Maimunka News (@MaimunkaNews) July 5, 2024
Mount Etna, located on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, is indeed one of the tallest active volcanoes in Europe. Here are some key facts:
- Elevation: Mount Etna’s current height (as of July 2021) is 3,357 meters (11,014 feet) above sea level, although this varies due to summit eruptions.
- Geological Significance: It lies above the convergent plate margin between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate .
- Recent Activity:
- In 2021, Etna erupted significantly, causing its height to increase by approximately 100 feet (30 meters) over a six-month period .
- The southeastern crater is now the tallest part of the volcano .
- Size and Importance:
- Etna covers an area of 1,190 square kilometers (459 square miles) with a basal circumference of 140 kilometers (87 miles) .
- It surpasses Mount Vesuvius in size and is the largest of the three active volcanoes in Italy 1.
- Only Mount Teide on Tenerife (Canary Islands) exceeds it in the entire European–North-African region west of the Black Sea .
- Mythology: In Greek mythology, the monster Typhon was said to be trapped under Mount Etna by Zeus, the god of the sky and thunder.
h/t inna