Volcanic Activity Reports on Mount Etna, Sicily for the Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Nation Museum of Natural History

Taken from the Introduction to Etna: Volcanic Activity Reports
provided by the Global Volcanism Program, Smithsonian Institution,
National Museum of Natural History

['http://rathbun.si.edu/gvp/world/region01/italy/etna/var.htm']

Mount Etna, towering above Catania, Sicily's second largest city, has
one of the world's longest documented records of historical
volcanism. Historical lava flows cover much of the surface of this
massive basaltic stratovolcano, Italy's highest and most voluminous
volcano. The Mongibello stratovolcano, truncated by several small
calderas, was constructed during the late Pleistocene and Holocene
over an older shield volcano. The most prominent morphological feature
of Etna is the Valle del Bove, a 5 x 10 km horseshoe-shaped caldera
open to the east. Two styles of eruptive activity typically occur at
Etna. Persistent explosive eruptions, sometimes with minor lava
emissions, take place from one or more of the three prominent summit
craters, the Central Crater, NE Crater, and SE Crater (the latter
formed in 1978). Flank vents, typically with higher effusion rates,
produce eruptions from fissures that open progressively downward from
near the summit (usually accompanied by strombolian eruptions at the
upper end). Cinder cones are commonly constructed over the vents of
lower flank lava flows. Lava flows extend to the foot of the volcano
on all sides and have reached the sea over a broad area on the SE
flank.