Talk:Mount Etna

Legends

According to a local legend, the soul of Elizabeth I of England now resides in Etna; a deal she did with the devil in exchange for his help during her reign Preposterous. We can't respect every bit of nonsense invented by every ignorant fool under the aegis of "NPOV". Or can we? Put it back if you think this is Wikipedia-worthy. Wetman 19:26, 24 Mar 2004 (UTC).

I'd like to add that this is the mountain that Zeus crushed Typhon under when Typhon was finally defeated.John67832 (talk) 20:54, 19 October 2008 (UTC)

Delisted GA

There are no references. slambo 17:06, 23 October 2005 (UTC) The external links to the two webcam pages appear to be dead as of 26/02/06.

Map request

I've added a topographic map. -- Avenue (talk) 03:01, 28 December 2007 (UTC)

Vandalism

Vandalism by unregistered users is still a problem, I ask that others as well as myself watch this page and revert vandalizing changes (I.E. making the page read that it is erupting today) Snoop0x7b 08:46, 11 April 2007 (UTC)

Mongibeddu > Muncibeddu

I'm not sure why I am unable to edit this article. In any case, I believe the Sicilian spelling of Mongibello should be changed to Muncibeddu, in accordance with the usual atonic o > u vowel change/maintenance and the usual ng > nc mutation, as seen in so many examples: manciari, tìnciri, fìnciri, etc. Since I cannot change it, would someone please. Thank you. //Calicchiulusiculu 16:22, 24 October 2006 (UTC)

Taming of Etna

I remember that when Etna erupted in 1992, it was (almost) successfully tamed by the Italian military forces; the lava flows were stopped with the blocks of concrete, the volcano vent was bombed from the air, maybe some other operations also took place. Does anybody have any further details about those issues? I think it's a really interesting topic and should be included in the article about Etna. At least, I'm interested in them and would like to read about it:) CrittoMount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of eruption.

-- From this month's Nature magazine: In your News story "Volcano gets choke chains to slow mud" (Nature 445, 470; 2007), you cite some physicists who had not heard of using concrete balls and linked chain to attempt to plug a mud geyser. The US Navy (in which I was then a commander), the Italian Navy and the US Marine Corps used exactly this approach successfully in Sicily, in April-May 1992, to slow and eventually redirect lava flow from Mount Etna that was threatening the small village of Zafferana.

We came up with this plan while talking to an Italian geologist. He spoke no English and I spoke no Italian, but I have a bachelor's degree in geology and that helped a lot. We communicated on the back of a napkin while seated at a small restaurant at the ski lodge that became our base of operations. The navy units involved tried several different ways to place large decommissioned anti-terrorist barriers into a vent approximately 8,000 feet (2,440 metres) up the side of the volcano. The first plan was to drop individual barriers into the vent, but that failed because of insufficient quantity, and the heat simply ignited the concrete. We then built a very large slide and were going to stack barriers on the slide and slip it into the vent. The slide was constructed but was impossible to move to the vent as mountain winds forced it into the path of the aircraft. (I filmed it on video and it is rather but was impossible to move to the vent as mountain winds forced it into the path of the aircraft. (I filmed it on video and it is rather dramatic.)

Our third plan, which eventually worked, involved linking several dozen barriers together with asbestos-wrapped anchor chain and placing them in position around the vent. Additional concrete 'Dempster Dumpster' pads were placed directly over the vent on a net formed of anchor chain. When the entire assembly was in place it was blown into the vent using plastic explosive. US Navy and US Marine Corps CH-53E helicopters were used to place the barriers and transport the Italian explosives ordinance team required to place the explosives. The lava tube carrying lava down the mountain to the vicinity of Zafferana collapsed when flow was interrupted. That removed the immediate danger.

The long-term solution was to drive a bulldozer up the mountain, dig a very large canal and blow out the side of the vent. We had to change the engine on the bulldozer when we finally got it in place, as moving it up the hill destroyed the original engine.

The operation was extremely hazardous and at times conducted in blinding snowstorms. Aircrews had to contend with the noxious mix of gases as they hovered directly over the vents for long periods of time. Several US Navy and US Marine Corps aircrews were awarded air medals for their performance. The entire operation was designed, developed and coordinated by the Air Operation Department at Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily, under the command of Captain Michael Bruner. I had the privilege of running the Air Ops Department during the Etna operation and have 35 air crew hours logged in the CH-53Es operating on the mountain.

Elevation and coordinates

There had been a contradiction here, with the article supporting both 3323 m and 3350 m. I have edited the elevation based on a 2005 GPS survey and SRTM data. The site previously cited contains elevation inaccuracies; the authors have evidently not used SRTM data. There is no hard evidence that the often quoted 3350 m elevation is based on accurate measurement; some sites that support it concede that it is approximate. Viewfinder 14:36, 19 January 2007. (UTC)

Semi-protected

This article has been semi-protected for a week as per a request at WP:RFPP. A Train ^{take the} 23:09, 26 March 2007 (UTC)

Early eruptions

Various sources state that there are historical recordings of eruptions all the time back to 1500 BCE. Anyone who can tell more about sources describing its eruption at that point of time? I have been searching, but haven't found any details. Summer Song 18:18, 2 November 2007 (UTC)

The article states "The first known record of an eruption at Etna is that of Diodorus Siculus." Actually, Diodorus (V, 6) quotes the historian Timaeus of Tauromenium (345-250 BC) about an early (and probably legendary) eruption:

"But it is necessary to say in brief something of the Sicanians, the first inhabitants of Sicily, because several historians differ in their relations concerning them. For Philistus says they were a colony transplanted from Iberia into this island, and came thither from the river Sicanus, from whence they were called Sicani. But Timaeus (condemning the ignorance of this writer) proves clearly and evidently that they were the original inhabitants; whose reasons to prove their antiquity being many, we conceive it needless to recite. The Sicanians anciently dwelt in villages, and built little towns upon hills that were naturally strong for their better security against thieves and robbers. For they were not under one general monarch, but every town had each a several prince. And at first they enjoyed the whole island, and lived by tillage and improvement of the ground: but after that Aetna burst out into flames in many parts of it, and streams of fire even overflowed the neighbouring territory, the country lay waste and ruined for a great space and tract of ground together. And in regard the fire thus continued to spoil the country for many years together, the inhabitants in a consternation forsook the eastern parts of Sicily, and went down into the west. At length after many ages (πολλαῖς γενεαῖς ὕστερον), the Sicilians (τὸ τῶν Σικελῶν ἔθνος) with all their families transported themselves out of Italy, and settled in that part of the island before forsaken by the Sicanians (Σικανοί)."

Therefore, this earliest known eruption is to be placed "many generations" (i.e. at least one or two centuries) before the Sicels settled in Sicily (end of the second or beginning of the first millennium BC).

By the way, Timaeus was not the earliest author to mention an eruption of Etna. An eruption of 479 BC is referred to by Pindar in his First Pythian Ode (written about 470 BC); it is also mentioned in the so-called Parian Chronicle (Marmor Parium). Thucydides (III, 16) mentions the eruption of 425 BC as the third known to him and adds that the previous eruption preceded it by fifty years.

Other early eruptions are those of 396 BC, 141 BC, 135 BC, 126 BC, 122 BC, 50 BC, 44 BC, 38 BC, 32 BC, and 40 AD. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 85.130.44.72 (talk) 14:58, 23 September 2008 (UTC)

asdc

hey, this is the home of the Forge of hephaestus. Maybe add that in someone, eh?

-Orision

Where is the article ?

I am in the middle of my school project about Etna, that must be delivered to my teacher at 2.4.09, and suddenly the article dissapeared... What am I supposed to do now ? Start over ? I don't know why you removed it, but if you did it to improve the article, couldn't you just replace it AFTER you had finished the "improving"? I am sorry, if I "sound" aggressive, but on this project, depends my seven day vacation in Italy with my classmates. Please, put it back SOON. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.49.171.237 (talk) 18:20, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

It was just some vandal. The article was reverted to the last full version about 1½ hours after being vandalised. You can access previous versions through the "history" tab at the top of the page. -- Avenue (talk) 22:01, 2 February 2009 (UTC)

Thanks a lot! I just finished my school project and it will be delivered on time. Thanks for your article. Great job... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.49.171.237 (talk) 17:43, 3 February 2009 (UTC)

Photo

I think "EtnaAvió.JPG" is a better image than "Catania-Etna-Sicilia-Italy-Castielli CC0 HQ1.JPG" in which I can barely see the mountain. --Burntnickel (talk) 01:38, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

I was changing it back as you typed! Yes I agree. Eve Hall (talk) 01:41, 30 June 2009 (UTC)

hi im a cool volcano —Preceding unsigned comment added by 92.40.95.215 (talk) 11:12, 18 October 2009 (UTC)

if u write anything decent on this u are a boffin  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.138.207.115 (talk) 16:35, 12 January 2010 (UTC) 

I don't agree at all i like the Sicily-Volcano>JPG acornata picture (acornata is a website!) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.166.191.79 (talk) 17:31, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Bad facts about Mt.Etna

Mt.Etna is a mountain is Sicily It is in Italy and it's last Eruption was in 2008. This was bad! —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.166.191.79 (talk) 17:28, 24 January 2010 (UTC)

Biggest in Europe ?

It is claimed to be the biggest (tallest?) in Europe, but the linked page about the Seven tallest volcanos on each continent apparently claims that Mr Elburz in the Caucasus is the biggest in Europe. So which is right ? And do volcanos on islands near a continent count as being on that continent, anyway ?Eregli bob (talk) 13:14, 24 February 2010 (UTC)

I think this article only claims it is the largest active volcano in Europe. Elbrus is not active. -- Avenue (talk) 03:15, 25 February 2010 (UTC)

That is a very weak argument. Mount Elbrus is dormant, but does have regular eruptions on a time scale of centuries and will erupt again. Etna does not always erupt either. The main point is whether Mount Elbrus is or is not in Europe. If the modern definition of the Caucasus watershed is taken (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boundaries_between_the_continents_of_Earth has an excellent discussion), Etna becomes the 5th tallest non-extinct volcano in Europe (http://www.volcanocafe.org/volcanoes-of-europe/). The reference [3] that is quoted here says nothing: it is just a collection of volcano tourism photos, without text. ABZebra (talk) 10:14, 8 October 2017 (UTC)

Geology

A section or link about the geology of Mt Etna would help improve the article: type of lava/rock, why the volcano is so active, etc. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Chrystomath (talk • contribs) 16:42, 20 May 2010 (UTC)

"The Disappeared 15 Minutes"

A lot of news → Google Search - "Mount Etna and the 15 minutes"

The event occurred on Monday, July 11, 2011.

Is it a Truth or just a Fake news ? a Fraud ? a Pseudoscience ? - 111.251.199.246 (talk) 17:29, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

Smoke Rings

In the Unusual Characteristics section, it is mentionned that smoke rings were produced in 2011. The reference link is for a youtube video that is a repost of the 2000 smoke rings recorded by Geoff Mackley (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbV98Z0QP-k&feature=player_embedded and http://www.emergency.co.nz/archive/etna.html). I haven't been able to find a reliable source for the 2011 smoke rings. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.58.177.232 (talk) 12:39, 17 August 2011 (UTC)

Citation #8 doesn't seem to support the facts provided

In the article, there's a claim stating that Mount Etna is around 0.5 million years old. It then provides a reference to http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Volcanoes/Italy/description_italy_volcanics.html which does not state or support such facts. While I think the claim is actually accurate, a better source would be good. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.22.211.150 (talk) 03:06, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

Confusion...

i still dont undestand this article...? it says its the largest in europe and yet there's several that a larger...? just a bit confused :/ — Preceding unsigned comment added by 124.179.28.89 (talk • contribs) 05:24, 10 November 2012‎

The article says that Etna is the largest ACTIVE volcano in Europe. There are larger volcanoes, but they aren't active. Randomguywithanaxe (talk) 12:15, 19 February 2013 (UTC)

wrong. Mt Teide has a higher elevation by about 500 meters and according to its article it is also active82.47.31.154 (talk) 20:26, 19 January 2016 (UTC)

Recent eruptions

The "recent eruptions" section tends to overtake the whole article, and seriously violates WP:NOTNEWS. Especially for the last five years, pretty much every activity is covered in detail, overshadowing more important events from the past. I intend to go through it and do some serious pruning. No such user (talk) 07:48, 8 March 2013 (UTC)

Expand Czech

Mormegil 87.18.29.26 (talk) 20:11, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

Template talk:Expand language#Add template .7B.7BExpand Other languages.7D.7D Mormegil 87.18.196.166 (talk) 07:47, 20 July 2013 (UTC)

well this mount st.helen is beauiful — Preceding unsigned comment added by 206.78.212.217 (talk) 19:48, 20 February 2014 (UTC)

Sardinian -> Siclian

Why does it mention Mungibeddu as Sardinian name for the mountain on the island of Sicily. I guess it should be Sicilian!? --195.176.191.86 (talk) 14:54, 12 May 2014 (UTC)

Indeed it should! Thanks for pointing that out - there was a letter "n" missing from the language code. Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 17:24, 12 May 2014 (UTC)

Fatalities and damage

The article currently makes the following statement:

"A study on the damage and fatalities caused by eruptions of Etna in historical times reveals that only 77 human deaths are attributable with certainty to eruptions of Etna, most recently in 1987 when two tourists were killed by a sudden explosion near the summit."

I do not see how anyone could have done a study on damage and death 'in historical times'. In most of the cases of the known eruptions, the details are not such as to make a determination of numbers of dead or estimate of damage possible. The language used is also filled with waffle words. What does deaths 'attributable with certainty to eruptions of Etna' mean? Does it exclude heart attacks? Does it exclude collapsed architecture? Who is doing the attributing? And when? To judge from the rest of the sentence, actual bodies need to be counted. I don't see how that criterion can be applied to 'historical times'. IMHO, this is just WOO, and ought to be removed. It has all the marks of revisionist minimalism. --Vicedomino (talk) 06:40, 7 April 2017 (UTC)

Etymology section

The article features a definition of Aetna deriving it from a Phoenician word. The authority cited is Adrian Room, a geographical etymologist. His opinion is an outlier, however, and does not appear to have caught the attention of the world; indeed I can find it nowhere else. The Encyclopedia Britannica's latest version of its article on Aetna (2013) still promotes the standard etymology, which is given only second place in the article only to be dismissed. The other languages of the Wikipedia adhere as well to the traditional etymology. Standard Wikipedia recommendations for dealing with multiple opinions (WP:NPOV), specifically, are

"If a viewpoint is held by an extremely small minority, it does not belong on Wikipedia, regardless of whether it is true or you can prove it, except perhaps in some ancillary article. Keep in mind that, in determining proper weight, we consider a viewpoint's prevalence in reliable sources, not its prevalence among Wikipedia editors or the general public.

I do not personally object to Adrian Room's hypothesis being mentioned, but it should not lead off the paragraph, lending undue weight to its eccentric idea. It might perhaps find a place in a footnote.

--Vicedomino (talk) 08:14, 8 April 2017 (UTC)

Etymology section (again)

In the section on "Etymology", the word Aetna is etymologized in the first paragraph. The second paragraph seeks to etymologize nicknames for Mt. Etna. In my view, this is trivia, and might be removed. What it says is:

"It is also known as Mungibeddu in Sicilian and Mongibello or Montebello in Italian (The Italian word literally meaning Monte mountain and Bello meaning beautiful, but the Sicilian word is actually thought to be from the Latin mons and the Arabic ??? jabal, both meaning mountain, producing a tautological place name, "mountain mountain").[11]" (the ref. reads: "Note di toponomastica" (PDF) (in Italian). Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 March 2009. Retrieved 20 August 2011.)

The paragraph provides a perfectly good etymology for Montebello (or, in the Sicilian dialect, Mongibello, which is easily understood) in Italian. Then it offers an etymology which is a combination of Latin and Arabic; that etymology, as the paragraph admits, produces a tautology, 'mountain mountain', making the etymology inferior and probably wrong. If there is a choice between a good etymology and a problematical etymology, should one even bother to mention the problematical one?

Additionally, checking the reference for the problematical etymology, one finds a document without an author and without a date. The reference was originally displayed on an Italian web site araldicacivica.it, though it has been removed. It looks like 'original research', a survey of how place names come into being in Italy from various ethnic and linguistic influences. It is, IMHO, the work of an amateur compilator, and is likely self-published. I do not think it qualifies as a 'reference' according to Wikipedia standards.

I would recommend that the second sentence, "Then it offers... 'mountain mountain'", along with the ref., be deleted. I would not be unhappy to see the entire paragraph disappear, since 'beautiful mountain' is trivia and contributes nothing.

--Vicedomino (talk) 07:03, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

Numbers of dead, 1669

The article makes the following statement:

"Contrary to widespread reports of up to 15,000 (or even 20,000) human fatalities caused by the lava,[17] contemporaneous accounts written both in Italian and English[18] mention no deaths related to the 1669 eruption (but give very precise figures of the number of buildings destroyed, the area of cultivated land lost, and the economic damage)...."

and cites as proof the on-line article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The on-line article, however, makes no such claim, and does not mention either number. Additionally, the phrase "human fatalities caused by the lava" creates a 'straw-man', seeing that in the case of Aetna lava is not the killer.

It happens that the number 15,000 is mentioned by the Encyclopedia Britannica, but in the 5th edition (1817) article on "Aetna", at page 246. The number is applied, however, to the earthquake of 1266 at Catania, not to the eruption of 1666. The date of 1266 happens to be wrong, a slip of the pen for the earthquake of 1166, which happened in the reign of King William II of Sicily, as the EB's article on "Catania" makes evident. See also, M. Barratta, I terremoti d'Italia, p. 27.

The sentence quoted needs to be revised, and a different reference supplied.

--Vicedomino (talk) 23:03, 11 April 2017 (UTC)

External links modified

Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified one external link on Mount Etna. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:

• Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20110722070430/http://boris.vulcanoetna.it/ETNA_andman2.html to http://boris.vulcanoetna.it/ETNA_andman2.html

When you have finished reviewing my changes, you may follow the instructions on the template below to fix any issues with the URLs.

This message was posted before February 2018. After February 2018, "External links modified" talk page sections are no longer generated or monitored by InternetArchiveBot. No special action is required regarding these talk page notices, other than regular verification using the archive tool instructions below. Editors have permission to delete these "External links modified" talk page sections if they want to de-clutter talk pages, but see the RfC before doing mass systematic removals. This message is updated dynamically through the template {{source check}} (last update: 18 January 2022).

• If you have discovered URLs which were erroneously considered dead by the bot, you can report them with this tool.
• If you found an error with any archives or the URLs themselves, you can fix them with this tool.

Cheers.—InternetArchiveBot (Report bug) 22:24, 2 September 2017 (UTC)

Arthurian legends

Moved from my talk.

 – Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 12:09, 18 January 2018 (UTC)

• Flobbadob re. Mongibel and Mount Etna

Hello Justlettersandnumbers. You were a bit quick off the mark there deleting my text. I have quite a large library on Arthurian legend and can thus provide the references to back up the Mongibel info - this is not just idle speculation. cordially yours Flobbadob. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Flobbadob (talk • contribs) 11:45, 11 January 2018 (UTC)

• Flobbadob re. Deletion of Arthurian Folklore of Etna

Dear Justlettersandnumbers To be blunt, your casual deletion of my recent additions to the page 'Mount Etna' and contemptuous comments smack of vandalism motivated by personal prejudice. Are folklore and mythology now to be confined some kind of Wikipedia ghetto and refused entry to pages featuring other fields of knowledge? I have been contributing to Wikipedia for some years now and I try to maintain a respectful attitude to the content submitted by other editors : I do my best to be constructive and helpful and would never delete carefully-referenced material with abundant links to other pages of varied interest, on a mere whim, as you have just done. Why such spite ? yours in dismay and puzzlement Flobbadob.

I've twice removed some stuff about Morgana le Fay and I don't know what else from this page, the first time as completely unreferenced, the second time with the edit summary "rm a lot of stuff about fairies per WP:COATRACK – this belongs, if anywhere, in our page on Arthurian legends". Flobbadob has reverted both those edits. So, questions for other editors: is Wikipedia the place for fairy-tales? does this stuff add anything at all to our knowledge of this Sicilian volcano, or is it just so much crackpot nonsense? Justlettersandnumbers (talk) 12:09, 18 January 2018 (UTC)

Although I am a big opponent of fancruft, IMO if Flobbadob has references to back up the Arthurian legends referencing Mt Etna then it should stay in. Obviously the insertions would have to edited for length since you can't write forever about a whole legend when a small part of it references Etna. I would also breakup the section Etymology / Folklore into separate sections, leave the Etymology section where it is, and then move Folklore to right before or after Geopolitical Oddities.

File:Paroxysm at Etna, 16-17 November 2013.webm to appear as POTD soon

Hello! This is a note to let the editors of this article know that File:Paroxysm at Etna, 16-17 November 2013.webm will be appearing as picture of the day on July 25, 2018. You can view and edit the POTD blurb at Template:POTD/2018-07-25. If this article needs any attention or maintenance, it would be preferable if that could be done before its appearance on the Main Page. — Chris Woodrich (talk) 02:18, 8 July 2018 (UTC)

Picture of the day

Eruptions at Mount Etna, a volcano in Sicily, on the night of 16–17 November 2013. This active stratovolcano is the largest of the three active volcanoes in Italy, covering an area of 1,190 km² (459 sq mi) and reaching a height of 3,329 m (10,922 ft). One of the world's most active volcanoes, its fertile volcanic soils support extensive agriculture. Due to its recent activity and nearby population, Mount Etna has been designated a Decade Volcano by the United Nations.Video: Boris Behncke

Wrong data

" Ash from these eruptions has been found as far away as south of Rome's border, 800 km (497 mi) to the north."

Rome is abut 500 km from Mount Etna as the crow flies. Ash does not travel by road. --79.42.143.11 (talk) 12:31, 26 December 2018 (UTC)

Article on the 1669 eruption

Greetings,

figured people here might be interesting in the draft for an article on the 1669 eruption that I am writing at User:Jo-Jo Eumerus/1669 Etna eruption. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk) 17:30, 30 December 2019 (UTC)

Now it's launched and at 1669 Etna eruption. Jo-Jo Eumerus (talk) 09:38, 16 January 2020 (UTC)

Geology of Etna

hello, I would like to point out this graphic file [[1]] from Commons that illustrates a simplified diagram of the geology of Mount Etna. The text is in Italian, but it could be explanatory and useful for this article. Cheers --Antonov (talk) 15:08, 21 May 2022 (UTC)