Wednesday,
February 28, 2007
The
ANNOTICO Reports
This
current eruption is No Surprise, since Stromboli is one of three Active
Volcanoes in Europe (actually all three are in
The
1950 movie "
Italy is one of the most volcanically active countries in mainland Europe, possessing the largest volcanoes on the continent, as
well as the continent's only active volcanoes.
Three main
clusters of volcanism exist: a line of volcanic centres
running northwest along the central part of the Italian mainland; a cluster in
the northeast of Sicily; and another cluster around the Mediterranean island of Pantelleria.
The country's
volcanism is due chiefly to the presence, a short distance to the south, of the
boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the African Plate. The magma erupted by
Active volcanoes
Three of
At least nine
other volcanic centres have seen eruptions in
historic times, including some submarine volcanoes (seamounts). In order of most recent eruption they are:
Reuters
March
1, 2007
Spectacular
eruptions from the volcano on the southern Italian
Two big lava
flows burst out of
"The
eruption (lava flows) are very well fed," said Enzo Boschi,
head of
"But there's
no reason to think that anything extraordinary will happen in the short term.
The population is not at risk."
Locals fear a
repeat of the events of December 2002 when a similar upsurge in volcanic
activity caused a massive chunk of rock to drop into the sea, causing a
10-metre (33 foot) tidal wave that ruined houses close to the shore.
Emergency sirens
sounded on the island when the new eruption began and local authorities ordered
all residents to move to at least 10 metres above the
water line.
The lava is
flowing down an uninhabited part of the island and the risk, either of a
greater eruption or of a tsunami, have not been deemed
great enough to prompt a full-scale evacuation.
In winter only a
few hundred people live on
Tourists are
drawn to climb to the 924 metre (3,000 ft) summit of
the live volcano and peer down into its crater as the volcano blasts molten
rock high into the sky.
The island was
the setting for a 1950 movie starring Ingrid Bergman and in recent decades has,
along with other islands in the Aeolian archipelago, become a favourite location for holiday homes for the rich and
famous.
Designers Dolce
& Gabbana, writer Umberto Eco and Italian
President Giorgio Napolitano are all reported to have homes on
http://www.theage.com.au/news/travel/
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ANNOTICO Reports
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