Dataset of Etna's flank eruptive fissures of the last 4000 years

The database is a linear shapefile mapping the active portion of the eruptive fissures that opened on the flanks of the Etna volcano (Italy) in the last 4000 years. Its cartographic reference system is WGS 1984, UTM Zone 33N.

It was prepared as input data for the paper “Where will the next flank eruption at Etna occur? An updated spatial probabilistic assessment” (Sandri  L., Garcia A., Proietti C., Branca S., Ganci G., and Cappello A., Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, Accepted: 15 October 2024). The dataset is compiled starting from the last Etna’s geological map (Branca et al. 2011) and integrated with the previous geological maps compiled by Sartorius Von Waltershausen (1848–1861) and Romano et al. (1979), and with the maps of 1928, 1971–1991, 2001 and 1999–2019 eruptions (Branca et al. 2017; Azzaro and Neri, 1992; Coltelli et al., 2007; De Beni et al., 2021). For each eruption, the dataset contains the fissures of both the main and minor flows. These fissures were traced based on their geological evidence, such as along the central axis of spatter ramparts and scoria cones or at the main effusive vent of purely effusive eruptions. The dry portions of the fissures, i.e. those that did not give rise to eruptive activity, are not included in the dataset.

The following fields were compiled for the dataset: Name, Age, Partitions, and Reference. The name refers to the eruption corresponding to the fissure; Age indicates when the eruption, corresponding to each fissure, occurred but was not compiled for 29 (among 190) fissures of unknown age that erupted between 2000 BCE and 501 BCE (Before Current Era); Partitions is used to subdivide the dataset into 5 different temporal intervals: 2000 BCE to 501 BCE; 500 BCE to 1600 CE (Common Era); 1600 CE to 1900 CE; 1900 CE to 1970 CE; and 1970 CE to 2018 CE. This field refers to the partitions used for the analysis performed by Sandri et al (2024). The geological or cartographic map from which each fissure was mapped is given in the field reference.