Publication Date:
2020-02-24
Description:
Mount Etna produces frequent eruptions from its summit craters and from
fissures on its flanks. The flank fissures trend approximately radially to
the summit, and are mainly concentrated in three rift zones that are
located on the NE, S and W flanks. Many flank eruptions result from
lateral magma transfer from the central conduit into fractures intersecting
the flanks, although some eruptions are fed through newly formed conduits
that are not directly linked to the central conduit. We analyzed the
structural features of eruptions from 1900 to the present, one of the most
active periods in the documented eruptive history of Etna, which
comprised 35 summit and 33 flank events. Except for a small eruption on
the W flank in 1974, all of the flank eruptions in this interval occurred on
or near the NE and S rifts. Eruptions in the NE sector were generally
shorter, but their fissure systems developed more rapidly and were longer
than those in the S sector. In contrast, summit eruptions had longer mean
durations, but generally lower effusion rates (excluding paroxysmal events
characterized by very high effusion rates that lasted only a few hours).
This database was examined considering the main parameters (frequency
and strike) of the eruptive fissures that were active over the last ~2 ka.
The distribution in time and space of summit and flank eruptions appears
to be closely linked to the dynamics of the unstable E to S flank sector of
Etna, which is undergoing periodic displacements induced by subvolcanic
magma accumulation and gravitational pull. In this framework, magma
accumulation below Etna exerts pressure against the unbuttressed E and
S flanks, which have moved away from the rest of the volcano. This has
caused an extension to the detachment zones, and has facilitated magma
transfer from the central conduit into the flanks.
Description:
This work was sponsored by the Italian
National Civil Defence Department and INGV (Istituto Nazionale di
Geofisica e Vulcanologia), project V3-LAVA (RU01–Team 01C).
Description:
Published
Description:
464-479
Description:
1.5. TTC - Sorveglianza dell'attività eruttiva dei vulcani
Description:
3.2. Tettonica attiva
Description:
3.5. Geologia e storia dei vulcani ed evoluzione dei magmi
Description:
3.6. Fisica del vulcanismo
Description:
5.3. TTC - Banche dati vulcanologiche
Description:
JCR Journal
Description:
open
Keywords:
dike
;
magmas
;
tectonics
;
structural geology
;
04. Solid Earth::04.01. Earth Interior::04.01.99. General or miscellaneous
;
04. Solid Earth::04.04. Geology::04.04.99. General or miscellaneous
;
04. Solid Earth::04.04. Geology::04.04.09. Structural geology
;
04. Solid Earth::04.07. Tectonophysics::04.07.99. General or miscellaneous
;
04. Solid Earth::04.07. Tectonophysics::04.07.05. Stress
;
04. Solid Earth::04.07. Tectonophysics::04.07.07. Tectonics
;
04. Solid Earth::04.08. Volcanology::04.08.99. General or miscellaneous
;
04. Solid Earth::04.08. Volcanology::04.08.03. Magmas
;
04. Solid Earth::04.08. Volcanology::04.08.06. Volcano monitoring
;
04. Solid Earth::04.08. Volcanology::04.08.08. Volcanic risk
;
05. General::05.08. Risk::05.08.99. General or miscellaneous
Repository Name:
Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
Type:
article
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