Mt. Etna, Sicily, July 2001 - picture 19




On this picture it is visible that the lava flow doesn't originate from the same vent as the lava fountains. It is rather slowly coming out of a vent which is positioned a few metres below the fountain vents. The fountains are merely the effect of the ejection of highly pressurized volcanic gases. The magma blocks that are ejected with those gases pile up to a cone around the crater but contribute almost nothing to the lava flow.


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