Abstract
The 1971 eruption represents a benchmark in the recent history of Etna volcano. From a volcanological point of view, this eruption was characterised by complex intrusive dynamics associated with significant ground deformation that induced the activation of the Moscarello seismogenic fault and the formation of a new summit crater: the Southeast Crater. At the same time, the 1971 event marks an important change in the eruptive style and composition of the magma towards products richer in K. It is no coincidence that, over the next fifty years, there would be an increase in the frequency of summit and flank eruptions and associated output rate. From an historical viewpoint, the eruptive event of 1971 was the first important flank eruption studied by the International Institute of Volcanology: the analysis of the scientific articles on this activity reveals a greater multidisciplinary content in the descriptions and explanations of volcanic activity. Particularly important were the collaborations of British and French research groups that, together with their Italian colleagues, succeeded in giving a complete picture of the eruption and describing the state of knowledge on the Sicilian volcano. The multidisciplinary methodology used to study this eruption is still valid today.
Highlights
Mount Etna volcano, in eastern Sicily, is known world-wide for its almost continuous eruptive activity from the summit craters and for less frequent flank eruptions related to magma intrusion along the main rift zones of the volcano [Branca et al, 2011; Azzaro et al, 2012]
Contemporary researchers defined “the eruption of April-June 1971 the biggest event on Etna since the early 1950s” [Walker, 1973a], the significance of this event in the recent eruptive history of the volcano could not have been imagined at that time
The following development of widespread geophysical and geochemical networks on Etna since the 1990s enabled better defining and understanding the feeder system structure, the intrusive phenomena processes and the relationship between the latter and the geodynamics of the volcano edifice that is involved in extensive flank instability of the eastern sector [Bonaccorso et al, 2004]
Summary
Mount Etna volcano, in eastern Sicily, is known world-wide for its almost continuous eruptive activity from the summit craters and for less frequent flank eruptions related to magma intrusion along the main rift zones of the volcano [Branca et al, 2011; Azzaro et al, 2012]. During the first half of the 20th century, the scientific project of studying and monitoring the eruptions of Etna defined by Silvestri was developed further by Gaetano Ponte (1876-1955) with the foundation of the Volcanological Institute of Catania University, one of the first university structures in Europe that at the time focused on investigating volcanoes [Bonaccorso and Branca 2005; Cristofolini 2016]. Vinassa de Regny [Branca and Del Carlo, 2005], whose research papers mainly focused on the reconstruction of the chronology of the eruptive phenomena and secondarily the petrography of the volcanic products On the whole, this methodological approach to study the flank eruptions of Etna followed the one defined by Silvestri in the second half of the 19th century. We have analysed the contemporaneous sources in order to: a) reconstruct the scientific context of the time; b) reconstruct the eruptive phenomena on the basis of the current scientific knowledge; c) define the significance of the 1971 eruption from a volcanological and historical point of view
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