Italian volcano, Mount Etna, in Sicily is still firing lavas and ashes. It has been spewing toxic things, on and off, for almost three months now. The latest eruption was last March 16 of this year.
After some quiet years for Italy's most active volcano, Etna, it has decided to release some of the fiery-hot lava it has inside and flowed down the volcano's slopes. The video on Mashable has shown how the lava is flowing freely from the mouth of Mount Etna. Last week's eruption was from the New Southeast Crater while strombolian explosions threw lava bombs hundreds of meters from the vent.
However, this beautiful lava show is only good when people see it from afar. Just last week, a group of tourists, journalists and scientists were hit by the explosion. It has injured a total of 10 people and has caught a group of tourists by surprise.
The people who witnessed the said explosion run for their lives as molten rocks and steam rained down on them. Moreover, the eruption has caused the airport of the eastern Sicilian city of Catania to close down. The thick clouds of volcanic ash have made it impossible to land or launch airplanes. Good thing, though, by Saturday, flights had resumed at the Catania airport.
There was much news about the eruption and some of them were over dramatic, Wired reported. The eruption of Mount Etna did not really disrupt that much and has not caused many damaged. Its eruption is only a modest strombolian eruption. Those types of eruptions are caused by gas-rich magma getting to the surface and erupting explosively with some lava flows. It is not much like what a plinian eruption can do or damage.
The only impact of the recent eruption of Mount Etna has caused is deform its mouth. Maybe damage the houses under its feet, which authorities have tried to divert, to no success, and temporarily shut down an airport.