1.
Summit
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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
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Papua New Guinea
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Its capital, located along its southeastern coast, is Port Moresby. The western half of New Guinea forms the Indonesian provinces of Papua, Papua New Guinea is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. There are 852 known languages in the country, of which 12 have no known living speakers, most of the population of more than 7 million people live in customary communities, which are as diverse as the languages. It is also one of the most rural, as only 18 percent of its live in urban centres. The country is one of the worlds least explored, culturally and geographically and it is known to have numerous groups of uncontacted peoples, and researchers believe there are many undiscovered species of plants and animals in the interior. Papua New Guinea is classified as an economy by the International Monetary Fund. Strong growth in Papua New Guineas mining and resource sector led to the becoming the sixth fastest-growing economy in the world in 2011. Growth was expected to slow once major resource projects came on line in 2015, mining remains a major economic factor, however. Local and national governments are discussing the potential of resuming mining operations in Panguna mine in Bougainville Province, nearly 40 percent of the population lives a self-sustainable natural lifestyle with no access to global capital. Most of the still live in strong traditional social groups based on farming. Their social lives combine traditional religion with modern practices, including primary education, at the national level, after being ruled by three external powers since 1884, Papua New Guinea established its sovereignty in 1975. This followed nearly 60 years of Australian administration, which started during the Great War and it became an independent Commonwealth realm with Queen Elizabeth II as its head of state and became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations in its own right. Archaeological evidence indicates that humans first arrived in Papua New Guinea around 42,000 to 45,000 years ago and they were descendants of migrants out of Africa, in one of the early waves of human migration. Agriculture was independently developed in the New Guinea highlands around 7000 BC, a major migration of Austronesian-speaking peoples to coastal regions of New Guinea took place around 500 BC. This has been correlated with the introduction of pottery, pigs, in the 18th century, traders brought the sweet potato to New Guinea, where it was adopted and became part of the staples. Portuguese traders had obtained it from South America and introduced it to the Moluccas, the far higher crop yields from sweet potato gardens radically transformed traditional agriculture and societies. Sweet potato largely supplanted the previous staple, taro, and resulted in a significant increase in population in the highlands. In 1901, on Goaribari Island in the Gulf of Papua, missionary Harry Dauncey found 10,000 skulls in the islands Long Houses, traders from Southeast Asia had visited New Guinea beginning 5,000 years ago to collect bird of paradise plumes
3.
Stratovolcano
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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
4.
Types of volcanic eruptions
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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
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Basalt
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Basalt is a common extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of basaltic lava exposed at or very near the surface of a planet or moon. Flood basalt describes the formation in a series of basalt flows. By definition, basalt is an igneous rock with generally 45-55% silica and less than 10% feldspathoid by volume. Basalt commonly features a very fine-grained or glassy matrix interspersed with visible mineral grains, the average density is 3.0 gm/cm3. Basalt is defined by its content and texture, and physical descriptions without mineralogical context may be unreliable in some circumstances. Basalt is usually grey to black in colour, but rapidly weathers to brown or rust-red due to oxidation of its mafic minerals into hematite, although usually characterized as dark, basaltic rocks exhibit a wide range of shading due to regional geochemical processes. Due to weathering or high concentrations of plagioclase, some basalts can be quite light-coloured and these phenocrysts usually are of olivine or a calcium-rich plagioclase, which have the highest melting temperatures of the typical minerals that can crystallize from the melt. Basalt with a texture is called vesicular basalt, when the bulk of the rock is mostly solid. Gabbro is often marketed commercially as black granite and these ultramafic volcanic rocks, with silica contents below 45% are usually classified as komatiites. Agricola applied basalt to the black rock of the Schloßberg at Stolpen. Tholeiitic basalt is relatively rich in silica and poor in sodium, included in this category are most basalts of the ocean floor, most large oceanic islands, and continental flood basalts such as the Columbia River Plateau. Basalt rocks are in some cases classified after their content in High-Ti and Low-Ti varieties. High-Ti and Low-Ti basalts have been distinguished in the Paraná and Etendeka traps and it has greater than 17% alumina and is intermediate in composition between tholeiite and alkali basalt, the relatively alumina-rich composition is based on rocks without phenocrysts of plagioclase. Alkali basalt is relatively poor in silica and rich in sodium and it is silica-undersaturated and may contain feldspathoids, alkali feldspar and phlogopite. Boninite is a form of basalt that is erupted generally in back-arc basins. Ocean island basalt Lunar basalt On Earth, most basalt magmas have formed by melting of the mantle. Basalt commonly erupts on Io, the third largest moon of Jupiter, and has formed on the Moon, Mars, Venus. The crustal portions of oceanic tectonic plates are composed predominantly of basalt, produced from upwelling mantle below, the mineralogy of basalt is characterized by a preponderance of calcic plagioclase feldspar and pyroxene
6.
Andesite
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For the extinct cephalopod genus, see Andesites. Andesite is an igneous, volcanic rock, of intermediate composition. In a general sense, it is the type between basalt and dacite, and ranges from 57 to 63% silicon dioxide as illustrated in TAS diagrams. The mineral assemblage is dominated by plagioclase plus pyroxene or hornblende. Magnetite, zircon, apatite, ilmenite, biotite, and garnet are common accessory minerals, alkali feldspar may be present in minor amounts. The quartz-feldspar abundances in andesite and other rocks are illustrated in QAPF diagrams. Classification of andesites may be refined according to the most abundant phenocryst, example, hornblende-phyric andesite, if hornblende is the principal accessory mineral. Andesite can be considered as the equivalent of plutonic diorite. Characteristic of subduction zones, andesite represents the dominant rock type in island arcs, the average composition of the continental crust is andesitic. Along with basalts they are a component of the Martian crust. The name andesite is derived from the Andes mountain range, magmatism in island arc regions comes from the interplay of the subducting plate and the mantle wedge, the wedge-shaped region between the subducting and overriding plates. During subduction, the oceanic crust is submitted to increasing pressure and temperature. Hydrous minerals such as amphibole, zeolites, chlorite etc. dehydrate as they change to more stable, anhydrous forms, releasing water, fluxing water into the wedge lowers the solidus of the mantle material and causes partial melting. Due to the density of the partially molten material, it rises through the wedge until it reaches the lower boundary of the overriding plate. Basalt thus formed can contribute to the formation of andesite through fractional crystallization, partial melting of crust, or magma mixing, andesite is typically formed at convergent plate margins but may occur in other tectonic settings. Intermediate volcanic rocks are created via several processes, Fractional crystallization of a mafic parent magma and this removal can take place in a variety of ways, but most commonly this occurs by crystal settling. The first minerals to crystallize and be removed from a parent are olivines and amphiboles. These mafic minerals settle out of the magma, forming mafic cumulates, there is geophysical evidence from several arcs that large layers of mafic cumulates lie at the base of the crust
7.
New Britain
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New Britain is the largest island in the Bismarck Archipelago of Papua New Guinea. It is separated from the island of New Guinea by the Dampier and Vitiaz Straits, the main towns of New Britain are Rabaul/Kokopo and Kimbe. The island is roughly the size of Taiwan, while the island was part of German New Guinea, it was named Neupommern. New Britain extends from 148°1831 to 152°2357 E longitude and from 4°0825 to 6°1831 S latitude and it is crescent-shaped, approximately 520 km along its southeastern coastline, and from 29 to 146 km wide, not including a small central peninsula. The air-line distance from west to east is 477 km, the island is the 38th largest in the world, with an area of 36,520 km2. Steep cliffs form some sections of the coastline, in others the mountains are further inland, the highest point, at 2,438 m, is Mount Sinewit in the Baining range in the east. Most of the terrain is covered with tropical rainforest and several rivers are fed by the high rainfall. A major eruption of Tavurvur in 1994 destroyed the East New Britain provincial capital of Rabaul, most of the town still lies under metres of ash, and the capital has been moved to nearby Kokopo. New Britain forms part of the Islands Region, one of four regions of Papua New Guinea, New Britain became part of German New Guinea. In 1909, the population was estimated at about 190,000. The expatriate population was confined to the northeastern Gazelle Peninsula. At the time 5,448 hectares had been converted to plantations, primarily growing copra, cotton, coffee, westerners avoided exploring the interior initially, believing that the indigenous peoples were warlike and would fiercely resist intrusions. On 11 September 1914, New Britain became the site of one of the earliest battles of World War I when the Australian Naval and they quickly overwhelmed the German forces and occupied the island for the duration of the war. After World War I the Treaty of Versailles was signed in June 1919, in 1920 the League of Nations included New Britain along with the former German colony on New Guinea in the Territory of New Guinea, a mandated territory of Australia. During World War II the Japanese attacked New Britain soon after the outbreak of hostilities in the Pacific Ocean, strategic bases at Rabaul and Kavieng were defended by a small Australian detachment, Lark Force. During January 1942, the Japanese heavily bombed Rabaul, on 23 January, Japanese marines landed by the thousands, starting the Battle of Rabaul. The Japanese used Rabaul as a key base until 1944, it served as the key point for the invasion of Port Moresby. New Britain was invaded by the U. S, 1st Marine Division in the Cape Gloucester area of the very western end of the island, and also by U. S. Army soldiers at some other coastal points
8.
Rabaul
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Rabaul is a township in East New Britain province, on the island of New Britain, in the country of Papua New Guinea. New Britain is an island about 60 kilometres to the east of the island of New Guinea, Rabaul was the provincial capital and most important settlement in the province until it was destroyed in 1994 by falling ash of a volcanic eruption. During the eruption, ash was sent thousands of metres into the air, after the eruption the capital was moved to Kokopo, about 20 kilometres away. Rabaul is continually threatened by volcanic activity because it is on the edge of Rabaul caldera, Rabaul was planned and built around the harbor area known as Simpsonhafen during the German New Guinea administration which controlled the region between 1884 and formally through 1919. From 1910 Rabaul was the headquarters of German New Guinea until captured by the British Empire during the days of World War I. It became the capital of the Australian mandated Territory of New Guinea until 1937 when it was first destroyed by a volcano. During World War II it was captured by the Japanese in 1942, tourism is a major industry in Rabaul and East New Britain generally. Rabauls proximity to its volcanoes has always been a source of concern, in 1878 before it was established as a town, an eruption formed a volcano in the harbour. That settlement was thus substantially enlarged with official buildings and housing and renamed Rabaul, following Germanys defeat at the end of the war, the occupied territory was delegated in 1920 to Australia as a League of Nations Mandate. Rabaul became the capital of the Territory of New Guinea, visits to and stays in Rabaul during this period were amply described in books by many authors, including Margaret Mead. Gunantambu, the house of “Queen” Emma Forsayth and her husband, contained furniture previously owned by Robert Louis Stevenson. Destroyed in the 1937 volcano eruption, its remains became a tourist attraction after World War II, Rabaul volcano is one of the most active and most dangerous volcanoes in Papua New Guinea. Having erupted and entirely destroyed Rabaul in 1937, five years before the occupation by Japan, Rabaul exploded violently in 1994, since then, the young cone Tavurvur located inside the caldera has been the site of near persistent activity in form of strombolian to vulcanian ash eruptions. The caldera has a form and is surrounded by a steep volcanic ridge several hundred meters high. Under the Australian administration, Rabaul developed into a regional base, then in 1937, catastrophic volcanic eruptions destroyed the town after the two volcanoes, Tavurvur and Vulcan, exploded. 507 people were killed, and there was widespread damage, following this, the Australian administration for the Territory of New Guinea decided to move the territorial headquarters to the safer location of Lae. All long-term steps to re-establish the territorial headquarters at Rabaul were forestalled during World War II, by the time the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor it was apparent they would soon attack Rabaul. So, by December 1941, women and children were evacuated, in January 1942 Rabaul was heavily bombed, on 23 January the Battle of Rabaul began and Rabaul was captured shortly thereafter with the landing of thousands of Japanese naval landing forces
9.
William Dampier
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William Dampier was an English explorer and navigator who became the first Englishman to explore parts of what is today Australia, and the first person to circumnavigate the world three times. He has also described as Australias first natural historian, as well as one of the most important British explorers of the period between Sir Walter Raleigh and James Cook. On a later voyage he rescued Alexander Selkirk, a former crewmate who may have inspired Daniel Defoes Robinson Crusoe, others influenced by Dampier include James Cook, Horatio Nelson, Charles Darwin, and Alfred Russel Wallace. William Dampier was born at Hymerford House in East Coker, Somerset and he was baptised on 5 September, but his precise date of birth is not recorded. He was educated at Kings School, Bruton, Dampier sailed on two merchant voyages to Newfoundland and Java before joining the Royal Navy in 1673. He took part in the two Battles of Schooneveld in June of that year, Dampiers service was cut short by a catastrophic illness, and he returned to England for several months of recuperation. For the next years he tried his hand at various careers, including plantation management in Jamaica and logging in Mexico. Returning to England, he married Judith around 1679, only to leave for the sea a few months later. This led to his first circumnavigation, during which he accompanied a raid across the Isthmus of Darién in Panama, the pirates then raided Spanish settlements in Peru before returning to the Caribbean. Dampier made his way to Virginia, where in 1683 he was engaged by the privateer John Cooke, Cooke entered the Pacific via Cape Horn and spent a year raiding Spanish possessions in Peru, the Galápagos Islands, and Mexico. This expedition collected buccaneers and ships as it went along, at one time having a fleet of ten vessels, Cooke died in Mexico, and a new leader, Edward Davis, was elected captain by the crew. Dampier transferred to the privateer Charles Swans ship, Cygnet, and on 31 March 1686 they set out across the Pacific to raid the East Indies, calling at Guam, Spanish witnesses saw the predominantly English crew as not only pirates and heretics but also cannibals. Leaving Swan and 36 others behind on Mindanao, the rest of the privateers sailed on to Manila, Poulo Condor, China, the Spice Islands, and New Holland. On 5 January 1688, Cygnet anchored two miles from shore in 29 fathoms on the northwest coast of Australia, near King Sound. Dampier and his ship remained there until March 12, and while the ship was being careened Dampier made notes on the fauna and flora, among his fellows were a significant number of Spanish sailors, most notably Alonso Ramírez, a native of San Juan, Puerto Rico. Later that year, by agreement, Dampier and two shipmates were marooned on one of the Nicobar Islands and they obtained a small canoe which they modified after first capsizing and then, after surviving a great storm at sea, called at Acheen in Sumatra. Dampier returned to England in 1691 via the Cape of Good Hope, penniless and he also had as a source of income a slave known as Prince Jeoly, from Miangas, who became famous for his tattoos. Dampier exhibited Jeoly in London, thereby also generating publicity for a book based on his diaries, the publication of the book, A New Voyage Round the World, in 1697 was a popular sensation, creating interest at the Admiralty
10.
Teide
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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
11.
Mount Nyiragongo
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Mount Nyiragongo is an active stratovolcano with an elevation of 3,470 metres in the Virunga Mountains associated with the Albertine Rift. It is located inside Virunga National Park, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about 20 km north of the town of Goma and Lake Kivu, the main crater is about two kilometres wide and usually contains a lava lake. The crater presently has two distinct cooled lava benches within the crater walls - one at about 3,175 m, Nyiragongos lava lake has at times been the most voluminous known lava lake in recent history. The depth of the lake varies considerably. A maximum elevation of the lake was recorded at about 3,250 m prior to the January 1977 eruption - a lake depth of about 600 m. A recent very low elevation of the lake was recorded at about 2,700 m. Nyiragongo and nearby Nyamuragira are together responsible for 40% of Africas historical volcanic eruptions, the volcano partly overlaps with two older volcanoes, Baratu and Shaheru, and is also surrounded by hundreds of small volcanic cinder cones from flank eruptions. The lava emitted in eruptions at Nyiragongo is often unusually fluid, Nyiragongos lavas are made of melilite nephelinite, an alkali-rich type of volcanic rock whose unusual chemical composition may be a factor in the unusual fluidity of the lavas there. Whereas most lava flows rather slowly and rarely pose a danger to human life. This is because of the extremely low silica content, the lava lake activity continued through 2010. At present, the lake is mostly confined within a broad, steep-sided cinder cone on the crater floor, between 1894 and 1977 the crater contained an active lava lake. On 10 January 1977, the crater walls fractured, and the lake drained in less than an hour. The lava flowed down the flanks of the volcano at speeds of up to 60 km/h, on the upper slopes, overwhelming villages and killing at least 70 people. The hazards posed by eruptions like this are unique to Nyiragongo, nowhere else in the world does such a steep-sided stratovolcano contain a lake of such fluid lava. Nyiragongos proximity to populated areas increases its potential for causing a natural disaster. The 1977 eruption raised awareness of the dangers posed by Nyiragongo. The 1977 eruption was preceded by the creation of a new volcano, Murara. Lava lakes reformed in the crater in eruptions in 1982–1983 and 1994, another major eruption of the volcano began on January 17,2002, after several months of increased seismic and fumarolic activity
12.
Mount Etna
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Mount Etna is an active stratovolcano on the east coast of Sicily, Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Catania, between the cities of Messina and Catania. It lies above the convergent plate margin between the African Plate and the Eurasian Plate and it is the tallest active volcano in Europe, currently 3,329 m high, though this varies with summit eruptions. It is the highest peak 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. Only Mount Teide in Tenerife surpasses it in the whole of the European–North-African region, Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity. The fertile volcanic soils support extensive agriculture, with vineyards and orchards spread across the slopes of the mountain. Due to its history of recent activity and nearby population, Mount Etna has been designated a Decade Volcano by the United Nations, in June 2013, it was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites. According to Adrian Room’s book Place-names of the World, the name Etna originated from the Phoenician word attuna meaning furnace or chimney and he dismisses the hypothesis that Etna is from the Greek αἴθω, meaning I burn, through an iotacist pronunciation. In Classical Greek, it is called Αἴτνη, a name also to Catania and the city originally known as Inessa. In Arabic, it was called جبل النار Jabal al-Nār and it is also known as Mungibeddu in Sicilian and Mongibello or Montebello in Italian. The term is not in use today, although some older people still call it this. According to another hypothesis the term Mongibello comes from the Latin Mulciber, the people of the Etna sometimes use the jargon term a muntagna, simply the mountain par excellence. Nowadays, the term Mongibello indicates the top area of the two central craters encompassing also the craters in the southeast and the northeast of the volcanic cone. Volcanic activity first took place at Etna about 500,000 years ago, about 300,000 years ago, volcanism began occurring to the southwest of the summit then, before activity moved towards the present centre 170,000 years ago. Eruptions at this time built up the first major volcanic edifice, the growth of the mountain was occasionally interrupted by major eruptions, leading to the collapse of the summit to form calderas. From about 35,000 to 15,000 years ago, Etna experienced some highly explosive eruptions, generating pyroclastic flows. Ash from these eruptions has been found as far away as south of Romes border,800 km to the north, the landslide left a large depression in the side of the volcano, known as Valle del Bove. Research published in 2006 suggested this occurred around 8000 years ago, and caused a huge tsunami and it may have been the reason the settlement of Atlit Yam, now below sea level, was suddenly abandoned around that time
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