LONGEST RECORD OF VOLCANIC ERUPTIONS

The first documented eruption of Mount
Etna, on the Italian island of Sicily,
dates back to c. 1500 BCE, when it was
written that the Sicani people were
made homeless following a cataclysmic
explosion. Etna – a stratovolcano with
a summit height of 3,329 m (10,921 ft)
– has erupted approximately 200 times
since, most recently in Mar 2017.
On 3 Dec 2015 local photographer
Fernando Famiani captured the drama
of an eruption from the safety of the
nearby province of Messina. “The
eruption lasted around 30 minutes,”
reported Famiani, “but days followed
of copious lava spills.” The explosion
fired lava 1 km (3,300 ft) into the sky,
and a few days later the resulting ash
plume had reached a height of around
7 km (23,000 ft).