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reawakening: following more than two years of eruptive repose, the
summit craters showed renewed activity in the summer and autumn
of 1995. The first crater to show magmatic activity, at the end
of July 1995, was the Bocca Nuova (seen emitting a dilute ash plume
on the left side of the summit area). A few days later, the Northeast
Crater joined the party, and became more vigorous in early October
1995. This photograph, taken from Nicolosi on 12 October 1995, shows
a dense ash column rising from the Northeast Crater, which itself
is not visible because it lies behind the central summit cone (which
hosts both the Bocca Nuova and the Voragine) |
Etna
photo gallery: 1995
Etna's reawakening, and three summit visits in one week, October 1995
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After
more than 2 years, I returned to Etna in early October 1995. This
visit coincided with clear signs of the volcano reawakening, which
had begun two months earlier and intensified during my visit, which
lasted about one week, through mid-October. I had the chance to
visit the summit craters three times and witness eruptive activity
within the Bocca Nuova and the Northeast Crater. It was the first
time since 1992 that I saw red, glowing magma at Etna, and this
was exciting, for it promised more impressive activity in the following
years. As a matter of fact, 1995 marked the beginning of six years
of intense summit eruptions, some of these rivalling a good-sized
Etnean flank eruption in volume. Just a few weeks after the end
of my 1995 visit, the Northeast Crater dramatically increased its
tempo, and started to produce a series of paroxysmal eruptive episode,
which it had not done for nine years. Unfortunately I did not have
the chance to witness any of these events, but during later years
I got to see far more spectacular things at Etna. |
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Left:
the Montagnola, a large pyroclastic cone formed in 1763
on the southern flank, seen on 7 October 1995. Poles of
cable car are visible behind the black 1983 and 1985 lavas
in middle ground
Right: the upper 800 m of Etna's southern flank seen from
near the arrival station of the cable car (now destroyed)
on 7 October 1995
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| Before
the 2001 eruption, any visitor who arrived with the cable
car at about 2500 m elevation saw this group of more or
less ruined and abandoned buildings in front of the Piano
del Lago and the summit crater complex in the background.
Large building at left was called the "Piccolo Rifugio"
(little mountain hut) and was crossed by eruptive fissures
in 1983 and 1985. The destroyed building at right was the
middle (not arrival) station of the first cable car ever
built on Etna (in the late-1950s), which was destroyed by
an eruption in 1971. The small building at extreme right
belongs to the ski facilities operating in the area until
2001. None of these buildings is existing any longer, the
area having been covered by lavas of the 2001 and 2002-2003
eruptions. Photo taken on 12 October 1995 |
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View
from the "Torre del Filosofo" mountain hut, located
on the upper southern flank of Etna at about 2920 m elevation,
toward the summit crater complex. Low cone at right is the
Southeast Crater, which at the time was a broad, low hill
with a 150 m diameter summit crater, and larger cone emitting
bright white steam cloud is the central summit cone hosting
the Bocca Nuova and the Voragine. At the time tourists were
brought in jeeps to Torre del Filosofo and guided a few
hundred meters further toward the Southeast Crater, where
there was a fumarolic area known as "Vulcarolo".
Photo taken on 7 October 1995 |
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The
Southeast Crater on 7 October 1995, seen from below (left)
and above (right). Above means, from the rim of the Voragine,
which at the time was about 150 m higher than the highest
point of the Southeast Crater |
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Left:
that's me standing on the rim of the Bocca Nuova on 7 October
1995, with a dilute gas cloud drifting over the place, not
all that much of a pleasure
Right: degasing pit at the bottom of the perfectly funnel-shaped
Voragine, without any eruptive activity, 7 October 1995 |
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Left:
active pit in the northwestern part of the Bocca Nuova on
12 October 1995. This pit produced frequent explosions but
the intervals between explosions were characterized by very
little emission of white vapor
Right: start of an explosion from the same pit on 12 October
1995. The explosion produces a plume of ash, accompanied
by the ejection of (lithic?) blocks |
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Left:
ash cloud billowing toward rim of the Bocca Nuova after
the explosion seen in previous photograph
Right: the Northeast Crater seen from eastern rim of the
Voragine on 7 October 1995, emitting a dense plume of sulfur-charged
vapor |
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Left:
the sharp, irregular rim of the Northeast Crater seen from
east, 7 October 1995
Right: geologist Carmelo Monaco of Catania University standing
near a deep notch in the northwestern rim of the Northeast
Crater, 7 October 1995 |
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Left:
ash plume rising from the Northeast Crater on the morning
of 12 October 1995, seen from north of Nicolosi
Right: view from the Montagnola across the Piano del Lago
toward the summit craters, with ash plumes rising from the
Bocca Nuova (left) and Northeast Crater (right), 12 October
1995 |
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Left:
the inner wall of the enormous pit within the Northeast
Crater, seen through northwestern notch on 12 October 1995
Right: a view onto the bottom of the incredible pit of the
Northeast Crater during a relatively quiet moment, 12 October
1995 |
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On
12 October 1995 frequent emissions of grayish-brown ash
occurred from the Northeast Crater, accompanied by a tremendous
roar. Photograph at left shows ash being emitted from small
vent at the bottom of the main pit of the crater, right
photograph shows ash column rising out of the crater |
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| On
the evening of 14 October 1995, a brigthly glowing vent
is visible at the bottom of the pit of the Northeast Crater,
and several areas around this vent are also incandescent.
Much of the glow is caused by rock heated to incandescence
by escaping hot gas, but ejections of molten fragments of
lava are also visible |
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Two
photographs of mild but extremely noisy eruptive activity
from the small vent on the floor of the Northeast Crater
on 14 October 1995. The vent lies about 150 m below the
observation point, a deep notch in the northwestern rim
of the crater |
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