Italy's Volcanoes: The Cradle of Volcanology

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Monte Paparia
The unconspicuous, irregular cone of Monte Paparìa is seen in this photograph taken in May 1999, with a farm building standing on its near (north) rim. The highest point of the cone is the rounded, green hill at right. Monte Paparìa was probably more prominent in the past before it was surrounded and half-buried by more recent lava flows. In the left background rises the much larger cone of Monte Minardo; before it lies a poorly vegetated but undated lava field whereas the rubbly lava in the foreground is of the 1843 eruption. About 60 people were killed in this area during that eruption when the lava flow covered a cistern and instantaneous evaporation of the water in the cistern caused the flashing of steam through the lava. The road seen in the foreground leads from Bronte up to a gate of the Etna Natural Park, from where fine hikes can be made in one of Etna's most charming landscapes

Mamma Etna's countless children
Monte Paparìa
W flank, 14.85372° E, 37.75739° N
Summit elevation: 1005 m (S rim of crater)

 

Monte Paparìa is a presumably quite old pyroclastic cone on the western flank of Etna, about 3.5 km SE from the town of Bronte. Surrounded and half-buried by more recent lava fields, including the voluminous 1651-1653 pahoehoe lavas, only the upper portion of the cone is now visible. All of it is private property, with a beautiful land villa that has been fully reconstructed in the late 1990s. Any related lava flow(s) lie buried beneath younger lavas, and it is close to impossibly to determine with reasonable precision the age of the formation of Monte Paparìa - except that it is presumably Holocene.
The single photograph that shows appreciable detail of Monte Paparìa (at the top ot this page) was taken in May 1999, during my first major excursion to the central-lower western flank of Etna.

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Copyright © Boris Behncke, "Italy's Volcanoes: The Cradle of Volcanology"

Page set up on 15 December 2003, last modified on 21 February 2004

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