Italy’s Mount Etna, Europe’s tallest and most active volcano, erupted this week in a spectacular display, sending plumes of ash and gas high into the Sicilian sky and captivating onlookers with one of its most dramatic outbursts in years.
The eruption originated from the volcano’s southeast crater, where a combination of a white ash plume and a grey cloud, resulting from a crater collapse and subsequent avalanche, produced a powerful pyroclastic flow. While pyroclastic flows are highly dangerous due to their heat and mobility, the event occurred in an uninhabited area.
Boris Behncke, a volcanologist from Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, told The Times that the episode, though visually striking, was relatively normal. Regional officials confirmed that lava flows remained within natural containment zones and posed no threat to the public.
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