Tourists exploring areas below the highly dangerous summit of Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy, are warned to avoid edges of craters, fissures and vents belching clouds of steam and gas from deep within the mountain. Visitors access authorised ‘safe’ crater zones at 2,920m (9,590 ft) by cable car or 4x4 minibus and join official guided walking tours rather than risk the shifting terrain of ash, cinders and loose stones on their own. Etna, Europe’s highest active volcano, has been erupting for about 500,000 years, with many recent eruptions from vents in its flanks as well as from the summit.
Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy: tourists exploring the authorised zones starting at about 1,300 ft (400m) below the volcano’s active and highly dangerous summit are warned to keep well clear of the edge of craters, fissures and vents billowing clouds of steam and gas from deep within the mountain. Visitors reaching the Sapienza Refuge at around 6,300 ft (1,920 m) usually climb to the ‘safe’ crater zones at 9,590 ft (2,920m) by cable cars or specially converted off-road minibuses. Most decide to join official 40-minute guided walking tours of the zones rather than risk lone exploration of the ever-shifting terrain of ash, cinders and loose stones. The entire mountain above 2,620 ft (800m), an area of about 60,000 hectares, is controlled by the Parco dell’Etna regional park, which safeguards Etna’s unique landscape and preserves its very diverse ecosystems. The authority’s remit extends from surrounding towns and villages right up to the summit, with four zones providing increasing levels of environmental protection. At around 10,900 feet (3,326 m), Etna is Europe’s highest active volcano outside the Caucasus and is Italy’s highest peak south of the Alps. Volcanic activity began at least 500,000 years ago. Many eruptions have been highly explosive, with some taking human life. In the past, rivers of molten lava have flowed eastward into the sea, destroying human settlements in their path. Wind-borne ash from Etna has landed near Rome, about 500 miles north, and in Libya, 370 miles south. About 8,000 years ago, a catastrophic collapse in Etna’s eastern flank caused an enormous landslide and a Mediterranean tsunami. Volcanic activity has increased over the last few centuries. There have been 60 eruptions since 1600 through vents in Etna’s flanks and many more from the summit, mostly in the last 120 years. Since 2000, there have been four eruptions through the vents, as well as summit eruptions in 2006, 2007-8, 2012 and 2018. January 2012, a
Size: 2832px × 4256px
Location: Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy
Photo credit: © Terence Kerr / Alamy / Afripics
License: Royalty Free
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