1.
Catania
–
Catania is an Italian city on the east coast of Sicily facing the Ionian Sea. It is the capital of the Metropolitan City of Catania, one of the ten biggest cities in Italy, the population of the city proper is 315,601 while the population of the conurbation is estimated to be 767,003. The metropolitan city has 1,115,310 inhabitants, Catania has had a long and eventful history, having been founded in the 8th century BC. In 1434, the first university in Sicily was founded in the city, in the 14th century and into the Renaissance period, Catania was one of Italys most important cultural, artistic and political centres. The city has a culture and history, hosting many museums, restaurants, churches, parks. Catania is well known for its street food, Catania is located on the east coast of the island of Sicily, at the foot of Mount Etna. As observed by Strabo, the location of Catania at the foot of Mount Etna has been both a curse and a blessing, two subterranean rivers run under the city, the Amenano, which surfaces at one single point south of Piazza Duomo, and the Longane. The ancient indigenous population of the Sicels named their villages after geographical attributes of their location, the Sicilian word, katane, means grater, flaying knife, skinning place or a crude tool apt to pare. Other translations of the name are harsh lands, uneven ground, sharp stones, the latter etymologies are easily justifiable since, for many centuries following an eruption, the city has always been rebuilt within its black-lava landscape. Around 729 BC, the ancient village of Katane became the Chalcidian colony of Katánē where the population was rapidly Hellenized. The Naxian founders, coming from the adjacent coast, later used the name for their new settlement along the River Amenano, around 263 BC, the city was variously known as Catĭna and Catăna. The former has been used for its supposed assonance with catina. Catinus has two meanings, a gulf, a basin or a bay and a bowl, a vessel or a trough, around 900, when Catania was part of the emirate of Sicily, it was known in Arabic as Balad al-fīl and Madinat al-fīl. The former means The Village of the Elephant, while the latter means The City of the Elephant, the Elephant is the lava sculpture over the fountain in Piazza Duomo. Another Arab toponym was Qaṭāniyyah, allegedly from the Arabic word for the leguminous plants, pulses like lentils, beans, peas, broad beans, and lupins were chiefly cultivated in the plains around the city well before the arrival of Aghlabids. Afterwards, many Arabic agronomists developed these crops and the orchards in the area around the city. The toponym Wadi Musa, or Valley of Moses, was rarely used, Catania was founded as a Greek colony named Κατάνη, of Chalcidic origin, under the guidance of a leader named Euarchos. The exact date of its foundation is not recorded, but it appears from Thucydides that it came into existence slightly later than Leontini, the only event of its early history that is known about is the legislation of Charondas, The exact date of which is uncertain
Catania
–
Catania Skyline
Catania
–
u Liotru, symbol of Catania
Catania
–
Giovanni Battista Vaccarini 's Duomo façade (1736) is an example of the city's
Sicilian Baroque architecture
Catania
–
Piazza Duomo (Cathedral Square)
2.
Summit
–
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. Mathematically, a summit is a maximum in elevation. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak, and zenith are synonymous, the UIAA definition is that a summit is independent if it has a prominence of 30 metres or more, it is a mountain if it has a prominence of at least 300 metres. This can be summarised as follows, A pyramidal peak is an exaggerated form produced by ice erosion of a mountain top, Summit may also refer to the highest point along a line, trail, or route. In many parts of the western United States, the term refers to the highest point along a road, highway. For example, the highest point along Interstate 80 in California is referred to as Donner Summit while the highest point on Interstate 5 is Siskiyou Mountain Summit, geoid Hill List of highest mountains Maxima and minima Nadir Summit accordance Peak finder
Summit
–
The highest elevation summit, Mount Everest, shown with a climber at the summit wearing an oxygen mask. The summit is 8850 m (29,035 ft) elevation. (While the cruising altitude of jetliners is roughly 10,000 m (32,808 feet), they are pressurized.)
Summit
–
View from the summit of Switzerland's highest,
Monte Rosa
Summit
–
The summit of
Mount Damavand,
Iran, in winter
Summit
–
Jeff Davis Peak, one of the highest peaks entirely within
Nevada
3.
Topographic prominence
–
It is a measure of the independence of a summit. A peaks key col is a point on this contour line. By convention, the prominence of Mount Everest, the Earths highest mountain, is taken to equal the elevation of its summit above sea level, if the peaks prominence is P metres, to get from the summit to any higher terrain one must descend at least P metres. Together with the convention for Mount Everest, this implies that the prominence of any island or continental highpoint is equal to its elevation above sea level, for every ridge connecting the peak to higher terrain, find the lowest point on the ridge. The key col is defined as the highest of these cols, the prominence is the difference between the elevation of the peak and the elevation of the key col. The following mental exercise may illustrate the meaning of topographic prominence, imagine you are standing at the top of a peak and imagine that an imaginary sea level rises to your feet. Now slowly lower the sea level and an imaginary island appears beneath your feet. Your island will grow and will merge with other islands that emerge, the parent peak may be either close or far from the subject peak. The summit of Mount Everest is the parent peak of Aconcagua at a distance of 17,755 km, the key col may also be close or far from the subject peak. The key col for Aconcagua is the Bering Strait at a distance of 13,655 km, the key col for the South Summit of Mount Everest is about 100 m distant. Prominence is interesting to many mountaineers because it is a measurement that is strongly correlated with the subjective significance of a summit. Peaks with low prominences are either subsidiary tops of some higher summit or relatively insignificant independent summits, peaks with high prominences tend to be the highest points around and are likely to have extraordinary views. Only summits with a sufficient degree of prominence are regarded as independent mountains, for example, the worlds second-highest mountain is K2. While Mount Everests South Summit is taller than K2, it is not considered an independent mountain because it is a subsummit of the main summit, many lists of mountains take topographic prominence as a criterion for inclusion, or cutoff. John and Anne Nuttalls The Mountains of England and Wales uses a cutoff of 15 m, in the contiguous United States, the famous list of fourteeners uses a cutoff of 300 ft /91 m. Also in the U. S.2000 feet of prominence has become a threshold that signifies that a peak has major stature. This generates lists of peaks ranked by prominence, which are different from lists ranked by elevation. Such lists tend to emphasize isolated high peaks, such as range or island high points, one advantage of a prominence-ranked list is that it needs no cutoff, since a peak with high prominence is automatically an independent peak
Topographic prominence
–
Figure 3. Diagram of a mountain range showing peaks and cols, from which mountain parentage and prominences can be determined.
Topographic prominence
–
Topographic prominence of three peaks near Great Pond Mountain, Maine, USA. Red triangles mark the peaks, the lowest contour line encircling each peak are shown in black and the green dots mark the key cols. The prominences are Atkins Hill: 430 – 310 = 120 ft, Cave Hill: 570 - 530 = 40 ft, Mead Mountain: 671 - 530 = 141 ft. The parent peak of each peak is Great Pond Mountain.
4.
Topographic isolation
–
The topographic isolation of a summit is the minimum great-circle distance to a point of equal elevation, representing a radius of dominance in which the peak is the highest point. It can be calculated for small hills and islands as well as for major mountain peaks, the following sortable table lists the Earths 40 most topographically isolated summits. The nearest peak to Germanys highest mountain, the 2, 962-metre-high Zugspitze, the distance between the Zugspitze and this contour is 25.8 km, the Zugspitze is thus the highest peak for a radius of 25.8 km around. Its isolation is thus 25.8 km, because there are no higher mountains than Mount Everest, it has no definitive isolation. Many sources list its isolation as the circumference of the earth over the poles or – questionably, after Mount Everest the Aconcagua, highest mountain of the American continents, has the greatest isolation of all mountains. There is no land for 16,534 kilometres when its height is first exceeded by Tirich Mir in the Hindu Kush. Mont Blanc is the highest mountain of the Alps, the geographically nearest higher mountains are all in the Caucasus. The Kukurtlu, which rises near the Elbrus, is the peak for Mont Blanc. com Canadian Mountain Encyclopedia peakbagger. com peaklist. org peakware. com World Mountain Encyclopedia summitpost. org
Topographic isolation
–
Topographic isolation and prominence
Topographic isolation
–
1.
Mount Everest is the highest mountain peak on Earth.
Topographic isolation
–
2.
Aconcagua is the highest peak in the
Western Hemisphere.
Topographic isolation
–
3.
Mount McKinley, or
Denali, is the highest peak of
North America.
5.
Ultra prominent peak
–
An ultra-prominent peak, or Ultra for short, is defined as a mountain summit with a topographic prominence of 1,500 metres or more. There are approximately 1,524 such peaks on Earth, some peaks, such as the Matterhorn and Eiger, are not Ultras because they are connected to higher mountains by high cols and therefore do not achieve enough topographic prominence. The term Ultra is due to earth scientist Stephen Fry, from his studies of the prominence of peaks in Washington in the 1980s and his original term was ultra major mountain, referring to peaks with at least 5,000 ft of prominence. Currently,1,515 Ultras have been identified worldwide,637 in Asia,355 in North America,209 in South America,119 in Europe,84 in Africa,69 in Australasia and 39 in Antarctica. Many of the worlds largest mountains are Ultras, including Mount Everest, K2, Kilimanjaro, Mont Blanc, on the other hand, others such as the Eiger and the Matterhorn are not Ultras because they do not have sufficient prominence. In British Columbia, some of the mountains listed do not even have generally recognized names, a number of Ultras have yet to be climbed, with Sauyr Zhotasy, Mount Siple, and Gangkar Puensum being the most likely candidates for the most prominent unclimbed mountain in the world. All of the Seven Summits are Ultras by virtue of the fact that they are the points of large landmasses. Each has its key col at or near sea level, resulting in a value almost equal to its elevation. List of peaks by prominence gives the 125 most prominent peaks worldwide
Ultra prominent peak
–
The summit of
Mount Logan in the
Yukon, the highest point in
Canada, is ranked sixth in the world by topographic prominence.
Ultra prominent peak
–
Map of Ultras worldwide
6.
Geographic coordinate system
–
A geographic coordinate system is a coordinate system used in geography that enables every location on Earth to be specified by a set of numbers, letters or symbols. The coordinates are chosen such that one of the numbers represents a vertical position. A common choice of coordinates is latitude, longitude and elevation, to specify a location on a two-dimensional map requires a map projection. The invention of a coordinate system is generally credited to Eratosthenes of Cyrene. Ptolemy credited him with the adoption of longitude and latitude. Ptolemys 2nd-century Geography used the prime meridian but measured latitude from the equator instead. Mathematical cartography resumed in Europe following Maximus Planudes recovery of Ptolemys text a little before 1300, in 1884, the United States hosted the International Meridian Conference, attended by representatives from twenty-five nations. Twenty-two of them agreed to adopt the longitude of the Royal Observatory in Greenwich, the Dominican Republic voted against the motion, while France and Brazil abstained. France adopted Greenwich Mean Time in place of local determinations by the Paris Observatory in 1911, the latitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle between the equatorial plane and the straight line that passes through that point and through the center of the Earth. Lines joining points of the same latitude trace circles on the surface of Earth called parallels, as they are parallel to the equator, the north pole is 90° N, the south pole is 90° S. The 0° parallel of latitude is designated the equator, the plane of all geographic coordinate systems. The equator divides the globe into Northern and Southern Hemispheres, the longitude of a point on Earths surface is the angle east or west of a reference meridian to another meridian that passes through that point. All meridians are halves of great ellipses, which converge at the north and south poles, the prime meridian determines the proper Eastern and Western Hemispheres, although maps often divide these hemispheres further west in order to keep the Old World on a single side. The antipodal meridian of Greenwich is both 180°W and 180°E, the combination of these two components specifies the position of any location on the surface of Earth, without consideration of altitude or depth. The grid formed by lines of latitude and longitude is known as a graticule, the origin/zero point of this system is located in the Gulf of Guinea about 625 km south of Tema, Ghana. To completely specify a location of a feature on, in, or above Earth. Earth is not a sphere, but a shape approximating a biaxial ellipsoid. It is nearly spherical, but has an equatorial bulge making the radius at the equator about 0. 3% larger than the radius measured through the poles, the shorter axis approximately coincides with the axis of rotation
Geographic coordinate system
–
Longitude lines are perpendicular and latitude lines are parallel to the equator.
7.
Sicily
–
Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. It is an autonomous Region of Italy, along with surrounding minor islands, Sicily is located in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula, from which it is separated by the narrow Strait of Messina. Its most prominent landmark is Mount Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, the island has a typical Mediterranean climate. The earliest archaeological evidence of activity on the island dates from as early as 12,000 BC. It became part of Italy in 1860 following the Expedition of the Thousand, a revolt led by Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian unification, Sicily was given special status as an autonomous region after the Italian constitutional referendum of 1946. Sicily has a rich and unique culture, especially regard to the arts, music, literature, cuisine. It is also home to important archaeological and ancient sites, such as the Necropolis of Pantalica, the Valley of the Temples, Sicily has a roughly triangular shape, earning it the name Trinacria. To the east, it is separated from the Italian mainland by the Strait of Messina, about 3 km wide in the north, and about 16 km wide in the southern part. The northern and southern coasts are each about 280 km long measured as a line, while the eastern coast measures around 180 km. The total area of the island is 25,711 km2, the terrain of inland Sicily is mostly hilly and is intensively cultivated wherever possible. Along the northern coast, the ranges of Madonie,2,000 m, Nebrodi,1,800 m. The cone of Mount Etna dominates the eastern coast, in the southeast lie the lower Hyblaean Mountains,1,000 m. The mines of the Enna and Caltanissetta districts were part of a leading sulphur-producing area throughout the 19th century, Sicily and its surrounding small islands have some highly active volcanoes. Mount Etna is the largest active volcano in Europe and still casts black ash over the island with its ever-present eruptions and it currently stands 3,329 metres high, though this varies with summit eruptions, the mountain is 21 m lower now than it was in 1981. It is the highest mountain in Italy south of the Alps, Etna covers an area of 1,190 km2 with a basal circumference of 140 km. This makes it by far the largest of the three volcanoes in Italy, being about two and a half times the height of the next largest, Mount Vesuvius. In Greek Mythology, the deadly monster Typhon was trapped under the mountain by Zeus, Mount Etna is widely regarded as a cultural symbol and icon of Sicily. The Aeolian Islands in the Tyrrhenian Sea, to the northeast of mainland Sicily form a volcanic complex, the three volcanoes of Vulcano, Vulcanello and Lipari are also currently active, although the latter is usually dormant
Sicily
–
Mount Etna rising over suburbs of Catania
Sicily
–
Sicily Sicilia
Sicily
–
Sicilian landscape
Sicily
–
Location of the
Salso
8.
Italy
–
Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a unitary parliamentary republic in Europe. Located in the heart of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy shares open land borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, San Marino, Italy covers an area of 301,338 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal and Mediterranean climate. Due to its shape, it is referred to in Italy as lo Stivale. With 61 million inhabitants, it is the fourth most populous EU member state, the Italic tribe known as the Latins formed the Roman Kingdom, which eventually became a republic that conquered and assimilated other nearby civilisations. The legacy of the Roman Empire is widespread and can be observed in the distribution of civilian law, republican governments, Christianity. The Renaissance began in Italy and spread to the rest of Europe, bringing a renewed interest in humanism, science, exploration, Italian culture flourished at this time, producing famous scholars, artists and polymaths such as Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Michelangelo and Machiavelli. The weakened sovereigns soon fell victim to conquest by European powers such as France, Spain and Austria. Despite being one of the victors in World War I, Italy entered a period of economic crisis and social turmoil. The subsequent participation in World War II on the Axis side ended in defeat, economic destruction. Today, Italy has the third largest economy in the Eurozone and it has a very high level of human development and is ranked sixth in the world for life expectancy. The country plays a prominent role in regional and global economic, military, cultural and diplomatic affairs, as a reflection of its cultural wealth, Italy is home to 51 World Heritage Sites, the most in the world, and is the fifth most visited country. The assumptions on the etymology of the name Italia are very numerous, according to one of the more common explanations, the term Italia, from Latin, Italia, was borrowed through Greek from the Oscan Víteliú, meaning land of young cattle. The bull was a symbol of the southern Italic tribes and was often depicted goring the Roman wolf as a defiant symbol of free Italy during the Social War. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus states this account together with the legend that Italy was named after Italus, mentioned also by Aristotle and Thucydides. The name Italia originally applied only to a part of what is now Southern Italy – according to Antiochus of Syracuse, but by his time Oenotria and Italy had become synonymous, and the name also applied to most of Lucania as well. The Greeks gradually came to apply the name Italia to a larger region, excavations throughout Italy revealed a Neanderthal presence dating back to the Palaeolithic period, some 200,000 years ago, modern Humans arrived about 40,000 years ago. Other ancient Italian peoples of undetermined language families but of possible origins include the Rhaetian people and Cammuni. Also the Phoenicians established colonies on the coasts of Sardinia and Sicily, the Roman legacy has deeply influenced the Western civilisation, shaping most of the modern world
Italy
–
The
Colosseum in Rome, built c. 70 – 80 AD, is considered one of the greatest works of
architecture and
engineering of ancient history.
Italy
–
Flag
Italy
–
The
Iron Crown of Lombardy, for centuries symbol of the
Kings of Italy.
Italy
–
Castel del Monte, built by German Emperor
Frederick II,
UNESCO World Heritage site
9.
Geologic time scale
–
The table of geologic time spans, presented here, agrees with the nomenclature, dates and standard color codes set forth by the International Commission on Stratigraphy. Evidence from radiometric dating indicates that Earth is about 4.54 billion years old, the geology or deep time of Earth’s past has been organized into various units according to events which took place in each period. Older time spans, which predate the reliable record, are defined by their absolute age. Some other planets and moons within the Solar System have sufficiently rigid structures to have preserved records of their own histories, for example, Venus, Mars, dominantly fluid planets, such as the gas giants, do not preserve their history in a comparable manner. Apart from the Late Heavy Bombardment, events on other planets probably had little influence on the Earth. Construction of a scale that links the planets is, therefore, of only limited relevance to the Earths time scale. The existence, timing, and terrestrial effects of the Late Heavy Bombardment is still debated, the largest defined unit of time is the supereon, composed of eons. Eons are divided into eras, which are in turn divided into periods, epochs, the terms eonothem, erathem, system, series, and stage are used to refer to the layers of rock that correspond to these periods of geologic time in Earths history. Geologists qualify these units as early, mid, and late when referring to time, and lower, middle, for example, the lower Jurassic Series in chronostratigraphy corresponds to the early Jurassic Epoch in geochronology. The adjectives are capitalized when the subdivision is formally recognized, and lower case when not, thus early Miocene but Early Jurassic. Geologic units from the time but different parts of the world often look different and contain different fossils. For example, in North America the Lower Cambrian is called the Waucoban series that is subdivided into zones based on succession of trilobites. In East Asia and Siberia, the unit is split into Alexian, Atdabanian. A key aspect of the work of the International Commission on Stratigraphy is to reconcile this conflicting terminology, the term Anthropocene is used informally by popular culture and a growing number of scientists to describe the current epoch in which we are living. The term was coined by Paul Crutzen and Eugene Stoermer in 2000 to describe the current time, others say that humans have not even started to leave their biggest impact on Earth, and therefore the Anthropocene hasnt even started yet. Whatever the case, the ICS has not officially approved the term, leonardo da Vinci concurred with Aristotles interpretation that fossils represented the remains of ancient life. The 11th-century Persian geologist Avicenna and the 13th-century Dominican bishop Albertus Magnus extended Aristotles explanation into a theory of a petrifying fluid. Avicenna also first proposed one of the principles underlying geologic time scales, the Chinese naturalist Shen Kuo also recognized the concept of deep time
Geologic time scale
–
Key concepts
Geologic time scale
10.
Stratovolcano
–
A stratovolcano, also known as a composite volcano, is a conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava, tephra, pumice, and volcanic ash. Unlike shield volcanoes, stratovolcanoes are characterized by a profile and periodic explosive eruptions and effusive eruptions. The lava flowing from stratovolcanoes typically cools and hardens before spreading far due to high viscosity, the magma forming this lava is often felsic, having high-to-intermediate levels of silica, with lesser amounts of less-viscous mafic magma. Extensive felsic lava flows are uncommon, but have travelled as far as 15 km, stratovolcanoes are sometimes called composite volcanoes because of their composite layered structure built up from sequential outpourings of eruptive materials. They are among the most common types of volcanoes, in contrast to the less common shield volcanoes, two famous stratovolcanoes are Krakatoa, best known for its catastrophic eruption in 1883 and Vesuvius, famous for its destruction of the towns Pompeii and Herculaneum in 79 CE. Both eruptions claimed thousands of lives, in modern times, Mount Saint Helens and Mount Pinatubo have erupted catastrophically. Existence of stratovolcanoes has not been proved on other bodies of the solar system with one exception. Their existence was suggested for some isolated massifs on Mars, e. g. Zephyria Tholus, stratovolcanoes are common at subduction zones, forming chains along plate tectonic boundaries where oceanic crust is drawn under continental crust or another oceanic plate. The release of water from hydrated minerals is termed dewatering, and occurs at pressures and temperatures for each mineral. The magma then rises through the crust, incorporating silica-rich crustal rock, when the magma nears the top surface, it pools in a magma chamber under or within the volcano. There, the low pressure allows water and other volatiles dissolved in the magma to escape from solution, as occurs when a bottle of carbonated water is opened. Once a critical volume of magma and gas accumulates, the obstacle of the cone is overcome. In recorded history, explosive eruptions at subduction zone volcanoes have posed the greatest hazard to civilizations. Subduction-zone stratovolcanoes, such as Mount St. Helens, Mount Etna and Mount Pinatubo, typically erupt with explosive force, as a consequence, the tremendous internal pressures of the trapped volcanic gases remain in the pasty magma. Following the breaching of the chamber, the magma degasses explosively. The gases and water out with speed and force. Since 1600 CE, nearly 300,000 people have killed by volcanic eruptions. Most deaths were caused by flows and mudflows, deadly hazards that often accompany explosive eruptions of subduction-zone stratovolcanoes
Stratovolcano
–
Mount Vesuvius near Naples, Italy, erupted in AD 79. The last eruption of this stratovolcano occurred in March 1944. It has been essentially dormant since then.
Stratovolcano
–
Mount Etna on the Island of
Sicily
Stratovolcano
–
Mount Unzen in southwestern Japan
Stratovolcano
–
Mayon Volcano erupted on December 29, 2009, producing lava flows.
11.
Types of volcanic eruptions
–
Several types of volcanic eruptions—during which lava, tephra, and assorted gases are expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure—have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often named after famous volcanoes where that type of behavior has been observed, some volcanoes may exhibit only one characteristic type of eruption during a period of activity, while others may display an entire sequence of types all in one eruptive series. There are three different types of eruptions, the most well-observed are magmatic eruptions, which involve the decompression of gas within magma that propels it forward. Phreatomagmatic eruptions are another type of eruption, driven by the compression of gas within magma. Within these wide-defining eruptive types are several subtypes, the weakest are Hawaiian and submarine, then Strombolian, followed by Vulcanian and Surtseyan. The stronger eruptive types are Pelean eruptions, followed by Plinian eruptions, subglacial and phreatic eruptions are defined by their eruptive mechanism, and vary in strength. An important measure of strength is Volcanic Explosivity Index, an order of magnitude scale ranging from 0 to 8 that often correlates to eruptive types. Explosive eruptions are characterized by gas-driven explosions that propels magma and tephra, effusive eruptions, meanwhile, are characterized by the outpouring of lava without significant explosive eruption. Volcanic eruptions vary widely in strength, on the one extreme there are effusive Hawaiian eruptions, which are characterized by lava fountains and fluid lava flows, which are typically not very dangerous. On the other extreme, Plinian eruptions are large, violent, volcanoes are not bound to one eruptive style, and frequently display many different types, both passive and explosive, even the span of a single eruptive cycle. Volcanoes do not always erupt vertically from a crater near their peak. Some volcanoes exhibit lateral and fissure eruptions, notably, many Hawaiian eruptions start from rift zones, and some of the strongest Surtseyan eruptions develop along fracture zones. Scientists believed that pulses of magma mixed together in the chamber before climbing upward—a process estimated to several thousands of years. But Columbia University volcanologists found that the eruption of Costa Rica’s Irazú Volcano in 1963 was likely triggered by magma that took a route from the mantle over just a few months. The volcanic explosivity index is a scale, from 0 to 8 and it is used by the Smithsonian Institutions Global Volcanism Program in assessing the impact of historic and prehistoric lava flows. It operates in a way similar to the Richter scale for earthquakes, the vast majority of volcanic eruptions are of VEIs between 0 and 2. Volcanic eruptions by VEI index Magmatic eruptions produce juvenile clasts during explosive decompression from gas release, Hawaiian eruptions are a type of volcanic eruption, named after the Hawaiian volcanoes with which this eruptive type is hallmark. Hawaiian eruptions are the calmest types of events, characterized by the effusive eruption of very fluid basalt-type lavas with low gaseous content
Types of volcanic eruptions
–
Some of the eruptive structures formed during volcanic activity: a
Plinian eruption column,
Hawaiian pahoehoe flows, and a lava arc from a
Strombolian eruption.
Types of volcanic eruptions
–
Ropey
pahoehoe lava from
Kilauea,
Hawaiʻi.
Types of volcanic eruptions
–
An example of the lava arcs formed during Strombolian activity. This image is of
Stromboli itself.
Types of volcanic eruptions
–
Tavurvur in
Papua New Guinea erupting.
12.
World Heritage Site
–
A World Heritage Site is a landmark which has been officially recognized by the United Nations, specifically by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. Sites are selected on the basis of having cultural, historical, scientific or some form of significance. UNESCO regards these sites as being important to the interests of humanity. The programme catalogues, names, and conserves sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common culture, under certain conditions, listed sites can obtain funds from the World Heritage Fund. The program was founded with the Convention Concerning the Protection of the Worlds Cultural and Natural Heritage, since then,192 state parties have ratified the convention, making it one of the most adhered to international instruments. As of July 2016,1052 sites are listed,814 cultural,203 natural, in 1959, the governments of Egypt and Sudan requested UNESCO to assist their countries to protect and rescue the endangered monuments and sites. In 1960, the Director-General of UNESCO launched an appeal to the Member States for an International Campaign to Save the Monuments of Nubia, the campaign, which ended in 1980, was considered a success. The project cost $80 million, about $40 million of which was collected from 50 countries, the projects success led to other safeguarding campaigns, saving Venice and its lagoon in Italy, the ruins of Mohenjo-daro in Pakistan, and the Borobodur Temple Compounds in Indonesia. UNESCO then initiated, with the International Council on Monuments and Sites, the United States initiated the idea of cultural conservation with nature conservation. The International Union for Conservation of Nature developed similar proposals in 1968, the Convention came into force on 17 December 1975. As of June 2016, it has been ratified by 192 states, including 188 UN member states plus the Cook Islands, the Holy See, Niue, a country must first list its significant cultural and natural sites, the result is called the Tentative List. A country may not nominate sites that have not been first included on the Tentative List, next, it can place sites selected from that list into a Nomination File. The Nomination File is evaluated by the International Council on Monuments and Sites and these bodies then make their recommendations to the World Heritage Committee. There are ten selection criteria – a site must meet at least one of them to be included on the list, up to 2004, there were six criteria for cultural heritage and four criteria for natural heritage. In 2005, this was modified so there is now only one set of ten criteria. Nominated sites must be of outstanding value and meet at least one of the ten criteria. Thus, the Geneva Convention treaty promulgates, Article 53, PROTECTION OF CULTURAL OBJECTS AND OF PLACES OF WORSHIP. There are 1,052 World Heritage Sites located in 165 States Party, of these,814 are cultural,203 are natural and 35 are mixed properties
World Heritage Site
–
Site #252:
Taj Mahal, an example of cultural heritage site
World Heritage Site
–
Logo of the
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
World Heritage Committee
World Heritage Site
–
Site #156:
Serengeti National Park, an example of natural heritage site
World Heritage Site
–
Site #274:
Historic Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, an example of mixed heritage site
13.
Italian language
–
By most measures, Italian, together with Sardinian, is the closest to Latin of the Romance languages. Italian is a language in Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City. Italian is spoken by minorities in places such as France, Montenegro, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Crimea and Tunisia and by large expatriate communities in the Americas. Many speakers are native bilinguals of both standardized Italian and other regional languages, Italian is the fourth most studied language in the world. Italian is a major European language, being one of the languages of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe. It is the third most widely spoken first language in the European Union with 65 million native speakers, including Italian speakers in non-EU European countries and on other continents, the total number of speakers is around 85 million. Italian is the working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy as well as the official language of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta. Italian is known as the language of music because of its use in musical terminology and its influence is also widespread in the arts and in the luxury goods market. Italian has been reported as the fourth or fifth most frequently taught foreign language in the world, Italian was adopted by the state after the Unification of Italy, having previously been a literary language based on Tuscan as spoken mostly by the upper class of Florentine society. Its development was influenced by other Italian languages and to some minor extent. Its vowels are the second-closest to Latin after Sardinian, unlike most other Romance languages, Italian retains Latins contrast between short and long consonants. As in most Romance languages, stress is distinctive, however, Italian as a language used in Italy and some surrounding regions has a longer history. What would come to be thought of as Italian was first formalized in the early 14th century through the works of Tuscan writer Dante Alighieri, written in his native Florentine. Dante is still credited with standardizing the Italian language, and thus the dialect of Florence became the basis for what would become the language of Italy. Italian was also one of the recognised languages in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Italy has always had a dialect for each city, because the cities. Those dialects now have considerable variety, as Tuscan-derived Italian came to be used throughout Italy, features of local speech were naturally adopted, producing various versions of Regional Italian. Even in the case of Northern Italian languages, however, scholars are not to overstate the effects of outsiders on the natural indigenous developments of the languages
Italian language
–
Dante Alighieri (above) and
Petrarch (below) were influential in establishing their
Tuscan dialect as the most prominent literary language in all of
Italy in the
Late Middle Ages
Italian language
–
The geographic distribution of the Italian language in the world: large Italian-speaking communities are shown in green; light blue indicates areas where the Italian language was used officially during the Italian colonial period.
Italian language
Italian language
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Pietro Bembo was an influential figure in the development of the Italian language from the Tuscan dialect, as a literary medium, codifying the language for standard modern usage
14.
Sicilian language
–
Sicilian is a Romance language spoken on the island of Sicily and its satellite islands. It is also spoken in southern and central Calabria, in the parts of Apulia, Salento, and Campania, on the Italian peninsula. The Ethnologue describes Sicilian as being distinct enough from Standard Italian to be considered a language and is recognized as a minority language by UNESCO. Some assert that Sicilian represents the oldest Romance language derived from Vulgar Latin, Sicilian has the oldest literary tradition of the Italic languages. Sicilian is currently spoken by the majority of the inhabitants of Sicily, the latter are found in the countries which attracted large numbers of Sicilian immigrants during the course of the past century or so, especially the United States, Canada, Australia and Argentina. In the past two or three decades, large numbers of Sicilians were also attracted to the zones of northern Italy and indeed the rest of the European Union. It is not used as an official language anywhere, even within Sicily, there is currently no central body, in Sicily or elsewhere, that regulates the language in any way. However, since its inception in 1951, the Centro di studi filologici e linguistici siciliani in Palermo has been researching and publishing information on the Sicilian language. The autonomous regional parliament of Sicily has legislated to encourage the teaching of Sicilian at all schools, further, the Sicilian language would be protected and promoted under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. However, Italy has signed this treaty, but the Italian Parliament has not ratified it, the term Calabro-Sicilian refers to the fact that a form of Sicilian, or a dialect closely related to Sicilian, is spoken in central and southern Calabria. Sicilianu is the name of the language in Sicily itself, the term Siculu describes one of the larger prehistoric groups living in Sicily before the arrival of Greeks in the 8th century BC. It can also be used as an adjective to qualify, or further elaborate on, the very earliest influences, visible in Sicilian to this day, exhibit both prehistoric Mediterranean elements and prehistoric Indo-European elements, and occasionally a blending of both. Ruffino 2001 Before the Roman conquest, Sicily was occupied by populations considered indigenous, including Sicels, Sicani, Elymians, the Greek language influence remains strongly visible, while the influences from the other groups are less obvious. What can be stated with certainty is that there remain pre-Indo-European words in Sicilian of an ancient Mediterranean origin, of the three main prehistoric groups, only the Sicels were Indo-European, and their speech is likely to have been closely related to that of the Romans. The following table, listing words for twins, illustrates the difficulty linguists face in tackling the various sub-strata of the Sicilian language, a similar qualifier can be applied to many of the words that appear in this article. For instance, by the time the Romans had occupied Sicily during the 3rd century BC, the words with a prehistoric Mediterranean derivation often refer to plants native to the Mediterranean region or to other natural features. g. of a fruit timpa crag, cliff. The Sicels are a source of such words, but there is also the possibility of a cross-over between ancient Mediterranean words and introduced Indo-European forms. Some examples of Sicilian words with an ancient Indo-European origin, dudda mulberry, the latter would bring with them the Vulgar Latin from that region, a language not too different from that to be found in central Italy at the time
Sicilian language
–
Sicilian
15.
Latin language
–
Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. The Latin alphabet is derived from the Etruscan and Greek alphabets, Latin was originally spoken in Latium, in the Italian Peninsula. Through the power of the Roman Republic, it became the dominant language, Vulgar Latin developed into the Romance languages, such as Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French, and Romanian. Latin, Italian and French have contributed many words to the English language, Latin and Ancient Greek roots are used in theology, biology, and medicine. By the late Roman Republic, Old Latin had been standardised into Classical Latin, Vulgar Latin was the colloquial form spoken during the same time and attested in inscriptions and the works of comic playwrights like Plautus and Terence. Late Latin is the language from the 3rd century. Later, Early Modern Latin and Modern Latin evolved, Latin was used as the language of international communication, scholarship, and science until well into the 18th century, when it began to be supplanted by vernaculars. Ecclesiastical Latin remains the language of the Holy See and the Roman Rite of the Catholic Church. Today, many students, scholars and members of the Catholic clergy speak Latin fluently and it is taught in primary, secondary and postsecondary educational institutions around the world. The language has been passed down through various forms, some inscriptions have been published in an internationally agreed, monumental, multivolume series, the Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum. Authors and publishers vary, but the format is about the same, volumes detailing inscriptions with a critical apparatus stating the provenance, the reading and interpretation of these inscriptions is the subject matter of the field of epigraphy. The works of several hundred ancient authors who wrote in Latin have survived in whole or in part and they are in part the subject matter of the field of classics. The Cat in the Hat, and a book of fairy tales, additional resources include phrasebooks and resources for rendering everyday phrases and concepts into Latin, such as Meissners Latin Phrasebook. The Latin influence in English has been significant at all stages of its insular development. From the 16th to the 18th centuries, English writers cobbled together huge numbers of new words from Latin and Greek words, dubbed inkhorn terms, as if they had spilled from a pot of ink. Many of these words were used once by the author and then forgotten, many of the most common polysyllabic English words are of Latin origin through the medium of Old French. Romance words make respectively 59%, 20% and 14% of English, German and those figures can rise dramatically when only non-compound and non-derived words are included. Accordingly, Romance words make roughly 35% of the vocabulary of Dutch, Roman engineering had the same effect on scientific terminology as a whole
Latin language
–
Latin inscription, in the
Colosseum
Latin language
–
Julius Caesar 's
Commentarii de Bello Gallico is one of the most famous classical Latin texts of the Golden Age of Latin. The unvarnished, journalistic style of this
patrician general has long been taught as a model of the urbane Latin officially spoken and written in the floruit of the
Roman republic.
Latin language
–
A multi-volume Latin dictionary in the
University Library of Graz
Latin language
–
Latin and Ancient Greek Language - Culture - Linguistics at
Duke University in 2014.
16.
Messina, Italy
–
Messina is the capital of the Italian Metropolitan City of Messina. It is located near the northeast corner of Sicily, at the Strait of Messina, opposite Villa San Giovanni on the mainland, according to Eurostat the FUA of the metropolitan area of Messina has, in 2014,277,584 inhabitants. The citys main resources are its seaports, cruise tourism, commerce, the city has been a Roman Catholic Archdiocese and Archimandrite seat since 1548 and is home to a locally important international fair. The city has the University of Messina, founded in 1548 by Ignatius of Loyola, Messina has a light rail system, Tranvia di Messina, that was opened on 3 April 2003. This line is 7.7 kilometres and links the central railway station with the city centre. The city is home to a significant Greek-speaking minority, rooted in its history, founded by Greek colonists in the 8th century BC, Messina was originally called Zancle, from the Greek ζάγκλον meaning scythe because of the shape of its natural harbour. A comune of its Metropolitan City, located at the entrance of the Strait of Messina, is to this day called Scaletta Zanclea. In the early 5th century BC, Anaxilas of Rhegium renamed it Messene in honour of the Greek city Messene, the city was sacked in 397 BC by the Carthaginians and then reconquered by Dionysius I of Syracuse. In 288 BC the Mamertines seized the city by treachery, killing all the men, the city became a base from which they ravaged the countryside, leading to a conflict with the expanding regional empire of Syracuse. Hiero II, tyrant of Syracuse, defeated the Mamertines near Mylae on the Longanus River, carthage assisted the Mamertines because of a long-standing conflict with Syracuse over dominance in Sicily. When Hiero attacked a second time in 264 BC, the Mamertines petitioned the Roman Republic for an alliance, although initially reluctant to assist lest it encourage other mercenary groups to mutiny, Rome was unwilling to see Carthaginian power spread further over Sicily and encroach on Italy. Rome therefore entered into an alliance with the Mamertines, in 264 BC, Roman troops were deployed to Sicily, the first time a Roman army acted outside the Italian Peninsula. At the end of the First Punic War it was a city allied with Rome. In Roman times Messina, then known as Messana, had an important pharos, Messana was the base of Sextus Pompeius, during his war against Octavian. In 1548 St. Ignatius founded there the first Jesuit college in the world, the Christian ships that won the Battle of Lepanto left from Messina, the Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes, who took part in the battle, recovered for some time in the Grand Hospital. The city reached the peak of its splendour in the early 17th century, under Spanish domination, in 1674 the city rebelled against the foreign garrison. A massive fortress was built by the occupants and Messina decayed steadily, in 1743,48,000 died of plague in the city. In 1783, an earthquake devastated much of the city, and it took decades to rebuild, in 1847 it was one of the first cities in Italy where Risorgimento riots broke out
Messina, Italy
–
Frederick II age coins.
Messina, Italy
–
Flag
Messina, Italy
–
An image of the
1908 Messina earthquake aftermath.
Messina, Italy
–
Unexecuted
Beaux-Arts plan for the reconstruction of the port, 1909.
17.
African Plate
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The African Plate is a major tectonic plate straddling the equator as well as the prime meridian. It includes much of the continent of Africa, as well as oceanic crust which lies between the continent and various surrounding ocean ridges, between 60 million years ago and 10 million years ago, the Somali Plate began rifting from the African Plate along the East African Rift. All of these are divergent or spreading boundaries with the exception of the northern boundary, the cratons are, from south to north, the Kalahari craton, Congo craton, Tanzania craton and West African craton. The cratons were widely separated in the past, but came together during the Pan-African orogeny, the cratons are connected by orogenic belts, regions of highly deformed rock where the tectonic plates have engaged. The African Plate is rifting in the interior of the African continent along the East African Rift. This rift zone separates the African Plate to the west from the Somali Plate to the east, the African Plates speed is estimated at around 2.15 cm per year. It has been moving over the past 100 million years or so in a general northeast direction and this is drawing it closer to the Eurasian Plate, causing subduction where oceanic crust is converging with continental crust. Along its northeast margin, the African Plate is bounded by the Red Sea Rift where the Arabian Plate is moving away from the African Plate. The New England hotspot in the Atlantic Ocean has probably created a line of mid- to late-Tertiary age seamounts on the African Plate. USGS - Understanding plate motions Meijer, P. Th, wortel, M. J. R. Cenozoic dynamics of the African plate with emphasis on the Africa-Eurasia collision. Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth
African Plate
–
African Plate
18.
Eurasian Plate
–
It also includes oceanic crust extending westward to the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and northward to the Gakkel Ridge. The eastern side is a boundary with the North American Plate to the north and a boundary with the Philippine Sea Plate to the south, and possibly with the Okhotsk Plate and the Amurian Plate. The southerly side is a boundary with the African Plate to the west, the Arabian Plate in the middle, the westerly side is a divergent boundary with the North American Plate forming the northernmost part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, which is straddled by Iceland. The geodynamics of central Asia is dominated by the interaction between the Eurasian and Indian Plates, in this area, many subplates or crust blocks have been recognized, which form the Central Asian and the East Asian transit zones
Eurasian Plate
–
Eurasian & Anatolian Plate
Eurasian Plate
–
Eurasian Plate
Eurasian Plate
–
Geographic regions
19.
Europe
–
Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
Europe
–
Reconstruction of
Herodotus ' world map
Europe
Europe
–
A medieval
T and O map from 1472 showing the three continents as domains of the sons of
Noah — Asia to Sem (
Shem), Europe to Iafeth (
Japheth), and Africa to Cham (
Ham)
Europe
–
Early modern depiction of
Europa regina ('Queen Europe') and the mythical
Europa of the 8th century BC.
20.
Alps
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The mountains were formed over tens of millions of years as the African and Eurasian tectonic plates collided. Extreme shortening caused by the event resulted in marine sedimentary rocks rising by thrusting and folding into high mountain peaks such as Mont Blanc, Mont Blanc spans the French–Italian border, and at 4,810 m is the highest mountain in the Alps. The Alpine region area contains about a hundred peaks higher than 4000 metres, the altitude and size of the range affects the climate in Europe, in the mountains precipitation levels vary greatly and climatic conditions consist of distinct zones. Wildlife such as live in the higher peaks to elevations of 3,400 m. Evidence of human habitation in the Alps goes back to the Palaeolithic era, a mummified man, determined to be 5,000 years old, was discovered on a glacier at the Austrian–Italian border in 1991. By the 6th century BC, the Celtic La Tène culture was well established, Hannibal famously crossed the Alps with a herd of elephants, and the Romans had settlements in the region. In 1800 Napoleon crossed one of the passes with an army of 40,000. The 18th and 19th centuries saw an influx of naturalists, writers, in World War II, Adolf Hitler kept a base of operation in the Bavarian Alps throughout the war. The Alpine region has a cultural identity. The Winter Olympic Games have been hosted in the Swiss, French, at present, the region is home to 14 million people and has 120 million annual visitors. The English word Alps derives from the Latin Alpes, maurus Servius Honoratus, an ancient commentator of Virgil, says in his commentary that all high mountains are called Alpes by Celts. The term may be common to Italo-Celtic, because the Celtic languages have terms for high mountains derived from alp and this may be consistent with the theory that in Greek Alpes is a name of non-Indo-European origin. According to the Old English Dictionary, the Latin Alpes might possibly derive from a pre-Indo-European word *alb hill, Albania, a name not native to the region known as the country of Albania, has been used as a name for a number of mountainous areas across Europe. In Roman times, Albania was a name for the eastern Caucasus, in modern languages the term alp, alm, albe or alpe refers to a grazing pastures in the alpine regions below the glaciers, not the peaks. An alp refers to a mountain pasture where cows are taken to be grazed during the summer months and where hay barns can be found. The Alps are a crescent shaped geographic feature of central Europe that ranges in a 800 km arc from east to west and is 200 km in width, the mean height of the mountain peaks is 2.5 km. The range stretches from the Mediterranean Sea north above the Po basin, extending through France from Grenoble, the range continues onward toward Vienna, Austria, and east to the Adriatic Sea and Slovenia. To the south it dips into northern Italy and to the north extends to the border of Bavaria in Germany
Alps
–
Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in the Alps, view from the
Savoy side
Alps
Alps
–
An "alp" refers to a high mountain pasture, often with a structure, such as this one on the south side of the Alps, where cows are taken for grazing.
Alps
–
The Alps extend in an arc from France in the south and west to Slovenia in the east, and from Monaco in the south to Germany in the north.
21.
Mount Vesuvius
–
Mount Vesuvius is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about 9 km east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of several volcanoes which form the Campanian volcanic arc, Vesuvius consists of a large cone partially encircled by the steep rim of a summit caldera caused by the collapse of an earlier and originally much higher structure. Mount Vesuvius is best known for its eruption in AD79 that led to the burying and destruction of the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, more than 1,000 people died in the eruption, but exact numbers are unknown. The only surviving account of the event consists of two letters by Pliny the Younger to the historian Tacitus. Vesuvius has erupted many times since and is the volcano on the European mainland to have erupted within the last hundred years. Vesuvius has a historic and literary tradition. An inscription from Capua to IOVI VESVVIO indicates that he was worshipped as a power of Jupiter and it was inhabited by bandits, the sons of the Earth, who were giants. With the assistance of the gods he pacified the region and went on, the facts behind the tradition, if any, remain unknown, as does whether Herculaneum was named after it. An epigram by the poet Martial in 88 AD suggests that both Venus, patroness of Pompeii, and Hercules were worshipped in the devastated by the eruption of 79. Mount Vesuvius was regarded by the Romans as being devoted to the hero, Vesuvius was a name of the volcano in frequent use by the authors of the late Roman Republic and the early Roman Empire. Its collateral forms were Vesaevus, Vesevus, Vesbius and Vesvius, writers in ancient Greek used Οὐεσούιον or Οὐεσούιος. Many scholars since then have offered an etymology, as peoples of varying ethnicity and language occupied Campania in the Roman Iron Age, the etymology depends to a large degree on the presumption of what language was spoken there at the time. Naples was settled by Greeks, as the name Nea-polis, New City, the Oscans, a native Italic people, lived in the countryside. The Latins also competed for the occupation of Campania, etruscan settlements were in the vicinity. Other peoples of unknown provenance are said to have been there at some time by various ancient authors. Some theories about its origin are, From Greek οὔ = not prefixed to a root from or related to the Greek word σβέννυμι = I quench, from Greek ἕω = I hurl and βίη violence, hurling violence, *vesbia, taking advantage of the collateral form. From an Indo-European root, *eus- < *ewes- < *wes-, shine sense the one who lightens, the Gran Cono was produced during the A. D.79 eruption. For this reason, the volcano is also called Somma-Vesuvius or Somma-Vesuvio, the caldera started forming during an eruption around 17,000 years ago and was enlarged by later paroxysmal eruptions, ending in the one of AD79
Mount Vesuvius
–
Mt. Vesuvius as seen from the ruins of
Pompeii, which was destroyed in the eruption of AD 79. The active cone is the high peak on the left side; the smaller one on the right is part of the Somma caldera wall.
Mount Vesuvius
–
City of Naples with Mount Vesuvius at sunset
Mount Vesuvius
–
A view of the
crater wall of Vesuvius, with the city of
Torre del Greco in the background
22.
Mount Teide
–
Mount Teide is a volcano on Tenerife in the Canary Islands, Spain. Its 3, 718-metre summit is the highest point in Spain, if measured from the ocean floor, it is at 7,500 m the highest volcano in the world base-to-peak outside of the Hawaiian Islands. Its elevation makes Tenerife the tenth highest island in the world and it remains active, its most recent eruption occurred in 1909 from the El Chinyero vent on the northwestern Santiago rift. Teide, Pico Viejo and Montaña Blanca form the Central Volcanic Complex of Tenerife, the volcano and its surroundings comprise Teide National Park, which has an area of 18,900 hectares and was named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO on June 28,2007. Teide is the most visited natural wonder of Spain, the most visited park in Spain and Europe and – by 2015 – the eighth most visited in the world. A major international astronomical observatory is located on the slopes of the mountain, before the 1495 Spanish colonization of Tenerife, the native Guanches called the volcano Echeyde, which in their legends referred to a powerful figure leaving the volcano, which could turn into hell. El Pico del Teide is the modern Spanish name, Teide was a sacred mountain for the aboriginal Guanches, so it was considered a mythological mountain, as Mount Olympus was to the ancient Greeks. According to legend, Guayota kidnapped Magec and imprisoned him inside the volcano, the Guanches asked their supreme god Achamán for clemency, so Achamán fought Guayota, freed Magec from the bowels of the mountain, and plugged the crater with Guayota. It is said that then, Guayota has remained locked inside Teide. When going on to Teide during an eruption, it was customary for the Guanches to light bonfires to scare Guayota, Guayota is often represented as a black dog, accompanied by his host of demons. The Guanches also believed that Teide held up the sky, many hiding places found in the mountains contain the remains of stone tools and pottery. These have been interpreted as being ritual deposits to counter the influence of evil spirits, the Guanches believed the mountain to be the place that housed the forces of evil and the most evil figure, Guayota. The stratovolcanoes Teide and Pico Viejo are the most recent centres of activity on the island of Tenerife. It has a complex volcanic history, the formation of the island and the development of the current Teide volcano took place in the five stages shown in the diagram on the right. Like the other Canary Islands, and volcanic islands in general. This early shield stage volcanism formed the bulk of the part of Tenerife. The shield volcanoes date back to the Miocene and early Pliocene and are preserved in three isolated and deeply eroded massifs, Anaga, Teno and Roque del Conde, each shield was apparently constructed in less than three million years, and the entire island in about eight million years. The initial juvenile stage was followed by a period of 2–3 million years of eruptive quiescence and this cessation of activity is typical of the Canaries, La Gomera, for example, is currently at this stage
Mount Teide
–
Teide seen from the north
Mount Teide
–
Echium wildpretii on Tenerife
Mount Teide
–
Southern Tenerife lizard (Gallotia galloti galloti)
Mount Teide
–
Teide and
Roque Cinchado
23.
Spain
–
By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
Spain
–
Lady of Elche
Spain
–
Flag
Spain
–
Altamira Cave paintings, in
Cantabria.
Spain
–
Celtic castro in
A Guarda,
Galicia.
24.
Typhon
–
Typhon, also Typhoeus, Typhaon or Typhos, was a monstrous giant and the most deadly creature in Greek mythology. Typhon was the last son of Gaia, and was fathered by Tartarus, Typhon and his mate Echidna were the progenitors of many famous monsters. The mythographer Apollodorus adds that Gaia bore Typhon in anger at the gods for their destruction of her offspring the Giants, numerous other sources mention Typhon as being the offspring of Gaia, or simply earth-born, with no mention of Tartarus. However, according to the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, Typhon was the child of Hera alone. Hera, angry at Zeus for having given birth to Athena by himself, prayed to Gaia to give her a son as strong as Zeus, then slapped the ground and became pregnant. Hera gave the infant Typhon to the serpent Python to raise, several sources locate Typhons birth and dwelling place in Cilicia, and in particular the region in the vicinity of the ancient Cilician coastal city of Corycus. The poet Pindar calls Typhon Cilician, and says that Typhon was born in Cilicia and nurtured in the famous Cilician cave, in Aeschylus Prometheus Bound, Typhon is called the dweller of the Cilician caves, and both Apollodorus and the poet Nonnus have Typhon born in Cilicia. The b scholia to Iliad 2.783, preserving a possible Orphic tradition, has Typhon born in Cilicia, Gaia, angry at the destruction of the Giants, slanders Zeus to Hera. So Hera goes to Zeus father Cronus and Cronus gives Hera two eggs smeared with his own semen, telling her to them, and that from them would be born one who would overthrow Zeus. Hera, angry at Zeus, buries the eggs in Cilicia under Arimon, the Homeric Hymn to Apollo describes Typhon as fell and cruel, and neither like gods nor men. Three of Pindars poems have Typhon as hundred-headed, while apparently a fourth gives him only fifty heads, a Chalcidian hydria, depicts Typhon as a winged humanoid from the waist up, with two snake tails below. For Nicander, Typhon was a monster of enormous strength, and strange appearance, with heads, hands, and wings. As far as the thighs he was of human shape and of such prodigious bulk that he out-topped all the mountains, one of his hands reached out to the west and the other to the east, and from them projected a hundred dragons heads. From the thighs downward he had huge coils of vipers, which when drawn out, reached to his very head and his body was all winged, unkempt hair streamed on the wind from his head and cheeks, and fire flashed from his eyes. The most elaborate description of Typhon is found in Nonnuss Dionysiaca, Nonnus makes numerous references to Typhons serpentine nature, giving him a tangled army of snakes, snaky feet, and hair. Nonnus also gives Typhon legions of arms innumerable, and where Nicander had only said that Typhon had many hands, according to Hesiods Theogony, Typhon was joined in love to Echidna, a monstrous half-woman and half-snake, who bore Typhon fierce offspring. The Theogony next mentions an ambiguous she, which refer to Echidna. The lyric poet Lasus of Hermione adds the Sphinx, later authors mostly retain these offspring of Typhon by Echidna, while adding others
Typhon
–
Zeus throwing his thunderbolt at Typhon, Chalcidian black-figured
hydria, c. 550 BC,
Staatliche Antikensammlungen (Inv. 596)
Typhon
–
Depiction by
Wenceslas Hollar
25.
Zeus
–
Zeus /ˈzjuːs/ is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who ruled as king of the gods of Mount Olympus. His name is cognate with the first element of his Roman equivalent Jupiter and his mythologies and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of the Indo-European deities such as Indra, Jupiter, Perun, Thor, and Odin. Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea, the youngest of his siblings to be born, in most traditions, he is married to Hera, by whom he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus. At the oracle of Dodona, his consort was said to be Dione, Zeus was also infamous for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, including Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Persephone, Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen of Troy, Minos, and the Muses. He was equated with many foreign weather gods, permitting Pausanias to observe That Zeus is king in heaven is a common to all men. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak, in addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical cloud-gatherer also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the Ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses, standing, striding forward with a thunderbolt leveled in his right hand. The gods name in the nominative is Ζεύς Zeús and it is inflected as follows, vocative, Ζεῦ Zeû, accusative, Δία Día, genitive, Διός Diós, dative, Διί Dií. Diogenes Laertius quotes Pherecydes of Syros as spelling the name, Ζάς, Zeus is the Greek continuation of *Di̯ēus, the name of the Proto-Indo-European god of the daytime sky, also called *Dyeus ph2tēr. The god is known under this name in the Rigveda, Latin, Zeus is the only deity in the Olympic pantheon whose name has such a transparent Indo-European etymology. The earliest attested forms of the name are the Mycenaean Greek
Zeus
–
The Jupiter de Smyrne, discovered in
Smyrna in 1680
Zeus
–
The Chariot of Zeus, from an 1879 Stories from the Greek Tragedians by Alfred Church.
Zeus
–
Zeus, at the Getty Villa, A.D. 1 - 100 by unknown.
Zeus
–
"
Cave of Zeus ",
Mount Ida (Crete).
26.
Hephaestus
–
Hephaestus is the Greek god of blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metals, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes. In Greek mythology, Hephaestus was the son of Zeus and Hera, in another version, he was Heras parthenogenous child, rejected by his mother because of his deformity and thrown off Mount Olympus and down to earth. As a smithing god, Hephaestus made all the weapons of the gods in Olympus and he served as the blacksmith of the gods, and was worshipped in the manufacturing and industrial centers of Greece, particularly Athens. The cult of Hephaestus was based in Lemnos, Hephaestus symbols are a smiths hammer, anvil, and a pair of tongs. The name of the god in Greek has a root which can be observed in names of places of Pre-Greek origin, Hephaestus had his own palace on Olympus, containing his workshop with anvil and twenty bellows that worked at his bidding. Hephaestus crafted much of the magnificent equipment of the gods, in later accounts, Hephaestus worked with the help of the chthonic Cyclopes—among them his assistants in the forge, Brontes, Steropes and Pyracmon. Hephaestus built automatons of metal to work for him and this included tripods that walked to and from Mount Olympus. He gave to the blinded Orion his apprentice Cedalion as a guide, in some versions of the myth, Prometheus stole the fire that he gave to man from Hephaestuss forge. Hephaestus also created the gift that the gods gave to man, being a skilled blacksmith, Hephaestus created all the thrones in the Palace of Olympus. The Greek myths and the Homeric poems sanctified in stories that Hephaestus had a power to produce motion. He made the golden and silver lions and dogs at the entrance of the palace of Alkinoos in such a way that they could bite the invaders, the Greeks maintained in their civilization an animistic idea that statues are in some sense alive. This kind of art and the animistic belief goes back to the Minoan period, when Daedalus, a statue of the god was somehow the god himself, and the image on a mans tomb indicated somehow his presence. Homers Odyssey and Iliad have Hephaestus being born of the union of Zeus, in another tradition, attested by Hesiod, Hera bore Hephaestus alone. In Hesiods Zeus-centered cosmology, Hera gave birth to Hephaestus as revenge for Zeus giving birth to Athena without her, several later texts follow Hesiods account, including Bibliotheke, Hyginus, and the preface to Fabulae. In the account of Attic vase painters, Hephaestus was present at the birth of Athena, in the latter account, Hephaestus is there represented as older than Athena, so the mythology of Hephaestus is inconsistent in this respect. In one branch of Greek mythology, Hera ejected Hephaestus from the heavens because he was shrivelled of foot and he fell into the ocean and was raised by Thetis and the Oceanid Eurynome. In another account, Hephaestus, attempting to rescue his mother from Zeus advances, was flung down from the heavens by Zeus. He fell for a day and landed on the island of Lemnos
Hephaestus
–
Hephaestus at the Forge by
Guillaume Coustou the Younger (
Louvre)
Hephaestus
–
Vulcan (Roman counterpart of Hephaestus) presenting the arms of Achilles to Thetis. By
Peter Paul Rubens.
Hephaestus
–
The western face of the Doric
temple of Hephaestus,
Agora of Athens.
27.
Agriculture
–
Agriculture is the cultivation and breeding of animals, plants and fungi for food, fiber, biofuel, medicinal plants and other products used to sustain and enhance human life. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of human civilization. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science, the history of agriculture dates back thousands of years, and its development has been driven and defined by greatly different climates, cultures, and technologies. Industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture farming has become the dominant agricultural methodology, genetically modified organisms are an increasing component of agriculture, although they are banned in several countries. Agricultural food production and water management are increasingly becoming global issues that are fostering debate on a number of fronts, the major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials. Specific foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, oils, meats, fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo, other useful materials are also produced by plants, such as resins, dyes, drugs, perfumes, biofuels and ornamental products such as cut flowers and nursery plants. The word agriculture is a late Middle English adaptation of Latin agricultūra, from ager, field, Agriculture usually refers to human activities, although it is also observed in certain species of ant, termite and ambrosia beetle. To practice agriculture means to use resources to produce commodities which maintain life, including food, fiber, forest products, horticultural crops. This definition includes arable farming or agronomy, and horticulture, all terms for the growing of plants, even then, it is acknowledged that there is a large amount of knowledge transfer and overlap between silviculture and agriculture. In traditional farming, the two are often combined even on small landholdings, leading to the term agroforestry, Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe, and included a diverse range of taxa. At least 11 separate regions of the Old and New World were involved as independent centers of origin, wild grains were collected and eaten from at least 105,000 years ago. Pigs were domesticated in Mesopotamia around 15,000 years ago, rice was domesticated in China between 13,500 and 8,200 years ago, followed by mung, soy and azuki beans. Sheep were domesticated in Mesopotamia between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago. From around 11,500 years ago, the eight Neolithic founder crops, emmer and einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick peas and flax were cultivated in the Levant. Cattle were domesticated from the aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey. In the Andes of South America, the potato was domesticated between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, along with beans, coca, llamas, alpacas, sugarcane and some root vegetables were domesticated in New Guinea around 9,000 years ago. Sorghum was domesticated in the Sahel region of Africa by 7,000 years ago, cotton was domesticated in Peru by 5,600 years ago, and was independently domesticated in Eurasia at an unknown time
Agriculture
–
Agriculture
Agriculture
–
Fields in
Záhorie (
Slovakia) - a typical Central European agricultural region.
Agriculture
–
Domestic sheep and a
cow (heifer) pastured together in
South Africa.
Agriculture
–
A
Sumerian harvester's sickle made from baked clay (ca. 3000 BC).
28.
Vineyard
–
A vineyard /ˈvɪnjərd/ is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of production is known as viticulture. The earliest evidence of production dates from between 6000 and 5000 BC. Wine making technology improved considerably with the ancient Greeks but it wasnt until the end of the Roman Empire that cultivation techniques as we know them were common throughout Europe. In medieval Europe the Church was a supporter of wine. They owned and tended the best vineyards in Europe and vinum theologium was considered superior to all others, European vineyards were planted with a wide variety of the Vitis vinifera grape. However, in the late 19th century, the species was nearly destroyed by the plant louse phylloxera accidentally introduced to Europe from North America. Native American grapevines include varieties such as Vitis labrusca, which is resistant to the bug, the quest for vineyard efficiency has produced a bewildering range of systems and techniques in recent years. Due to the much more fertile New World growing conditions. Innovation in palissage and pruning and thinning methods have replaced more general, traditional concepts like yield per unit area in favor of maximizing yield of desired quality. Many of these new techniques have since adopted in place of traditional practice in the more progressive of the so-called Old World vineyards. Other recent practices include spraying water on vines to protect them from sub-zero temperatures, new grafting techniques, soil slotting, such techniques have made possible the development of wine industries in New World countries such as Canada. Today there is increasing interest in developing organic, ecologically sensitive, biodynamics has become increasingly popular in viticulture. The use of irrigation in recent years has expanded vineyards into areas which were previously unplantable. The research includes developing improved grape varieties and investigating pest control, the International Grape Genome Program is a multi-national effort to discover a genetic means to improving quality, increasing yield and providing a natural resistance to pests. The implementation of mechanical harvesting is often stimulated by changes in laws, labor shortages. It can be expensive to hire labor for periods of time. Numbers of New World vineyard plantings have been increasing almost as fast as European vineyards are being uprooted, the size of individual vineyards in the New World is significant
Vineyard
–
The extensive vineyards of the
Languedoc-Roussillon region, southern France
Vineyard
–
Aerial view of vineyards in
Markgräflerland, Baden, Germany.
Vineyard
–
Satyrs in vineyard.
Attic red-figure volute-
krater, ca. 490 BC,
State Collections of Antiques in Munich.
Vineyard
–
A vineyard with bird-netting.
29.
Orchard
–
An orchard is an intentional planting of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of gardens, where they serve an aesthetic as well as a productive purpose. A fruit garden is generally synonymous with an orchard, although it is set on a smaller non-commercial scale, most temperate-zone orchards are laid out in a regular grid, with a grazed or mown grass or bare soil base that makes maintenance and fruit gathering easy. Orchards are sometimes concentrated near bodies of water, where climatic extremes are moderated, an orchards layout is the technique of planting the crops in a proper system. There are different methods of planting and thus different layouts, some of these layout types include, Square method Rectangular method Quincunx method Triangular method Hexagonal method Contour method For different varieties, these systems may vary to some extent. The most extensive orchards in the United States are apple and orange orchards, the most extensive apple orchard area is in eastern Washington state, with a lesser but significant apple orchard area in most of Upstate New York. Extensive orange orchards are found in Florida and southern California, where they are widely known as groves. In eastern North America, many orchards are along the shores of Lake Michigan, Lake Erie, in Canada, apple and other fruit orchards are widespread on the Niagara Peninsula, south of Lake Ontario. This region is known as Canada Fruitbelt and, in addition to large-scale commercial fruit marketing, murcia is a major orchard area in Europe, with citrus crops. New Zealand, China, Argentina and Chile also have extensive apple orchards, tenbury Wells in Worcestershire has been called The Town in the Orchard, since the 19th century, because it was surrounded by extensive orchards. Today, this heritage is celebrated through an annual Applefest, streuobstwiese is a German word that means a meadow with scattered fruit trees or fruit trees that are planted in a field. Streuobstwiese, or a meadow orchard, is a landscape in the temperate. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, Streuobstwiesen were a kind of a community orchard that were intended for productive cultivation of stone fruit. In recent years, ecologists have successfully lobbied for state subsidies to valuable habitats, biodiversity and natural landscapes, both conventional and meadow orchards provide a suitable habitat for many animal species that live in a cultured landscape. Orchard House in Concord, Massachusetts was the residence of American celebrated writer Louisa May Alcott, fruita, Utah part of Capitol Reef National Park has Mormon pioneer orchards maintained by the United States National Park Service. The Orchard Link organisation provides advice on how to manage and restore the county of Devons orchards, an organisation called Orchards Live carries out similar work in North Devon. Peoples Trust for Endangered Species has mapped every traditional orchard within England, the UK Biodiversity Partnership lists traditional orchards and a priority UK Biodiversity Action Plan habitat
Orchard
–
A
lemon orchard in the
Upper Galilee in
Israel.
Orchard
–
A community
apple orchard originally planted for productive use during the 1920s, in
Westcliff on Sea (
Essex, England)
Orchard
–
Streuobstwiese, a rural community orchard, traditionally for productive use. Today endorsed for its quality of habitat and biodiversity
Orchard
–
Apple orchards in
Azwell, Washington surrounding a community of
pickers' cabins
[3]
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