Etna Volcano

There’s plenty of hot stuff in our Solar System, even in the frozen realms; planetary scientists have found evidence of volcanoes on every terrestrial planet and on many of its moons and asteroids. A volcano is a crack in the Earth’s crust through which lava, volcanic ash and gases escape. Ancient people feared volcanoes, and they were right to do so: Volcanism can be very dangerous.

Volcanism, however, is also a vital part of our planet’s life. Volcanism recycles the Earth’s water and atmosphere and provides beautiful scenery, fertile soils, valuable mineral deposits, and geothermal energy. Volcanism also plays an important role in the dynamic interaction between tectonic plates, which is why the directions of volcanic chains are so useful to Earth scientists.

The oldest of Etna’s active volcanoes is the cone of La Fossa, which was formed from a sequence of tuffs and lava flows erupted over the last 6 thousand years or so. It is surrounded by crater edges of various ages, and has a large caldera – the space that forms when the cone of a volcano collapses after a violent eruption.

The younger of the island’s two active volcanoes, Vulcano, has a regular shape and rises for about 400m above sea level. At the top, you can see the Valle dei Mostri (Monster Valley) – a natural amphitheater of rock shards that have been eroded by wind and rain to look like statues. It is named for the monster-shaped figures it resembles.