Boris Behncke

• PhD
• Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia

The volcanic history of Mt. Etna is mainly known from studies of subaerial deposits and stratigraphy. However, little is known about the offshore deposits, which can provide a more detailed insight into geological and sedimentological processes affecting the flanks of Mt. Etna. During RV Meteor Cruise M178, eight gravity cores were taken offshore a...

This work presents the first results of the PANACEA project regarding the assessment of different volcano-related hazards at Mt. Etna (lava and pyroclastic flows, tephra fallout and earthquakes) by exploiting data deriving from the volcano’s history with accurate physical–mathematical models. Volcano-related hazards are distributed differently on E...

Italy is the land of iconic volcanoes, whose activity has been witnessed, described and portrayed for centuries. This legacy has greatly contributed to shaping the public perception of volcanoes and their impact, well beyond the national borders. Stories about famous eruptions overlap and nowadays easily mix up with the impressive footage that is r...

Understanding the dynamics of mild explosive activity is a fundamental tool for hazard assessment at open conduit volcanoes. This is a particularly critical task for Etna volcano. Etna is in fact characterized by frequent, mild explosive activity, punctuated by lava flows and paroxysmal events (‘lava fountains’), which, because of their greater imp...

Mt Etna has made headlines over the last weeks and months with spectacular eruptions, some of them highly explosive. This type of paroxysmal eruptive behaviour is characteristic of Etna's activity over the past few decades and so it is no surprise that Etna is among the most active volcanoes worldwide. Etna is well‐known for its extraordinary geolo...

Determining the volume of the various types of products of a highly frequent active volcano can be very difficult, especially if most of them are deposited on a growing volcanic cone. The New South-East Crater (NSEC) of Mt Etna, Italy, may be considered one of the best case studies because of tens of paroxysmal episodes which it produced in the las...

On 11 February 2014, a considerable volume (0.82 to 1.29 × 10⁶ m³) of unstable and hot rocks detached from the lower–eastern flank of the New Southeast Crater (NSEC) at Mt. Etna, producing a pyroclastic density current (PDC). This event was by far the most extensive ever recorded at Mt. Etna since 1999 and has attracted the attention of the scienti...

A lengthy period of eruptive activity from the summit craters of Mt. Etna started in January 2011. It culminated in early December 2015 with a spectacular sequence of intense eruptive events involving all four summit craters (Voragine, Bocca Nuova, New Southeast Crater, and Northeast Crater). The activity consisted of high eruption columns, Strombo...

Après cinq mois d’accalmie relative, l’activité de l’Etna a augmenté dans la nuit du 15 au 16 mai, culminant les 18-21 mai avec trois paroxysmes au cratère «Voragine » (VOR), puis des explosions d’intensité moindre jusqu’au 25 mai. Des coulées de lave ont débordé de la Bocca Nuova vers l’ouest ainsi que de fissures entre le cône central et le cône...

Après cinq mois d’accalmie relative, l’activité de l’Etna a augmenté dans la nuit du 15 au 16 mai, culminant les 18-21 mai avec trois paroxysmes au cratère «Voragine » (VOR), puis des explosions d’intensité moindre jusqu’au 25 mai. Des coulées de lave ont débordé de la Bocca Nuova vers l’ouest ainsi que de fissures entre le cône central et le cône...

sito web www.ingv.it Comunicato Stampa n.10| 2016 Una nuova mappa mostra come l'Etna cambia volto Misurare con precisione i cambiamenti morfologici che hanno caratterizzato la sommità dell'Etna tra il 2007 e il 2010, grazie a una mappa topografica realizzata con tecnologia LiDAR da aereo. Lo studio, firmato INGV, è stato pubblicato su Geophysical...

Mature volcanoes usually erupt from a persistent summit crater. Permanent shifts in vent location are expected to occur after significant structural variations and are seldom documented. Here, we provide such an example that recently occurred at Etna. Eruptive activity at Mount Etna during 2007 focused at the Southeast Crater (SEC), the youngest (f...

The quantification of eruptive activity represents one major challenge in volcanology. Digital comparison of lidar-based elevation models of Etna (Italy) was made to quantify the volumes of volcanics emitted in 2007-2010. During this period, Etna produced several summit paroxysms followed by a flank eruption. We integrated the total volume differen...

During 2013 Mt. Etna volcano experienced intense eruptive activity at the summit craters, foremost at the New Southeast Crater and to a minor degree at the Voragine and Bocca Nuova (BN), which took place in two cycles, February-April and September-December. In this work, we mainly focus on the period between these cycles, applying a multiparametric...

Stromboli is known for its mild, persistent explosive activity from the vents located within the summit crater depression at the uppermost part of the Sciara del Fuoco (SdF) depression. Effusive activity (lava flows) at this volcano normally occurs every 5-15 years, involving often the opening of eruptive fissures along the SdF, and more rarely ove...

Between January 2011 and April 2012, the Southeast Crater (SEC) on Mount Etna was the site of 25 episodes of lava fountaining, which led to the construction of a new pyroclastic cone on the eastern flank of the SEC. During these episodes lava overflows reached 4.3 km in length with an area of 3.19 km2 and a volume of 28 × 106 m3. The new cone, info...

Chronology of episodes of seismic unrest (from pattern classification) at Etna, Italy, from 21 February to 20 April 2007.

During the spring of 2007, paroxysmal activity occurred at the Southeast Crater of Mt. Etna, always associated with sharp rises in the amplitude of the volcanic tremor. Activity ranged from strong Strombolian explosions to lava fountains coupled with copious emission of lava flows and tephra. During inter-eruptive periods, recurrent seismic unrest...

[1] Since the second half of the 1990s, the eruptive activity of Mount Etna has provided evidence that both explosive and effusive eruptions display periodic variations in discharge and eruption style. In this work, a multiparametric approach, consisting of comparing volcanological, geophysical, and geochemical data, was applied to explore the volc...

Volcanic eruptions occur in a large variety of styles, magnitudes, and durations, and produce numerous phenomena that can be hazardous to humans, their property and their environment. The following chapters provide information on the most hazardous volcanic phenomena. It has to be noted that many of these processes can occur either together or in...

The period 2009-2011 at Mt. Etna was characterized by a gradual intensification of volcanic activity. In particular, after the end of the 2008-2009 eruption a resting phase took place and lasted up to the first months of 2010. In 2010 several episodes of minor explosions, taking place at the summit craters and accompanied by mild ash emissions, tes...

In spring 2007, a sequence of paroxysmal episodes took place at the Southeast Crater of Mt. Etna, Italy. Eruptive activity, characterised by Strombolian explosions, lava fountains, emission of lava flows and tephra, were all associated with an outstanding increase in the amplitude of volcanic tremor. In periods of quiescence between the eruptive ep...

Preface A handbook for volcanic risk management: cause, objectives and target audience Volcanic eruptions are one of the most impressive, violent and dramatic natural agents of change on our planet and represent a potential threat for hundreds of millions of people. Nevertheless, soil fertility, amongst other characteristics, often attracts popula...

The individuation of areas that are more likely to be affected by new events in volcanic regions is of fundamental relevance for the mitigation of the possible consequences, both in terms of loss of human life and material properties. Here, we describe a methodology for defining flexible high-detail lava-hazard maps and a technique for the validati...

We explore the success rates of detection and classification algorithms as applied to seismic signals from active volcanoes. The subspace detection method has shown some success in identifying repeating (but not identical) signals from seismic swarm sources, as well as pulling out nonvolcanic long period events within subduction zone tremor. We con...

The 2008-2009 eruption of Mt. Etna was heralded by episodes of paroxysmal summit activity, with strong Strombolian activity and spectacular lava fountains and flows, starting from spring 2007. In this study, we present analyses of a three-month period (from February to April, 2007) which led to the first paroxysm. In doing so, we merge volcanic tre...

1] Forecasting the lava flow invasion hazard in near‐real time is a primary challenge for volcano monitoring systems. The paroxysmal episode at Mount Etna on 12–13 January 2011 produced in ∼4 hours lava fountains and fast‐moving lava flows 4.3 km long. We produced timely predictions of the areas likely to be inundated by lava flows while the erupti...

Mount Etna produces frequent eruptions from its summit craters and from fissures on its flanks. The flank fissures trend approximately radially to the summit, and are mainly concentrated in three rift zones that are located on the NE, S and W flanks. Many flank eruptions result from lateral magma transfer from the central conduit into fractures int...

Volcano monitoring aims at the recognition of changes in instrumentally observable parameters before hazardous activity in order to alert governmental authorities. Among these parameters seismic data in general and volcanic tremor in particular play a key role. Recent major explosive eruptions such as Okmok (Aleutians) and Chaitén (Chile) in 2008 a...

We describe a new type of secondary rootless phreatomagmatic explosions observed at active lava flows at volcanoes Klyuchevskoy (Russia) and Etna (Italy). The explosions occurred at considerable (up to 5 km) distances from primary volcanic vents, generally at steep (15–35°) slopes, and in places where incandescent basaltic or basaltic-andesitic lav...

The 2001 and 2002–2003 flank eruptions on Mount Etna (Italy) were characterized by intense explosive activity which led to the formation of two large monogenetic scoria cones (one from each eruption) on the upper southern flank of the volcano. Continuous monitoring of Etna, especially during flank eruptions, has provided detailed information on the...

Fracture reactivation is a widespread process in nature even though evidence of magma-induced reactivation is less documented. Here we provide evidence of the reactivation of a fracture system on the upper flank of the Mt. Etna volcano and consider its possible implications in understanding the recent volcanic and tectonic activity. A NNW-SSE trend...

Application of light detection and ranging (LIDAR) technology in volcanology has developed rapidly over the past few years, being extremely useful for the generation of high‐spatial‐resolution digital elevation models and for mapping eruption products. However, LIDAR can also be used to yield detailed information about the dynamics of lava movement...

We conducted geophysical–geochemical measurements on a ∼ 2 km N–S profile cutting across the Pernicana Fault, one of the most active tectonic features on the NE flank of Mt. Etna. The profile passes from the unstable E flank of the volcano (to the south) to the stable N flank and significant fluctuations in electrical resistivity, self-potential, a...

We merge volcanological, structural, and volcanic tremor data to shed light on a fissure system opened on the upper SE flank of Mt. Etna, Italy, in 1989. The system propagates to about 6 km from the Southeast Crater (SEC), and although it is formed by dry (non-eruptive) NNW-SSE fissures, it was active throughout several eruptive episodes after 1989...

The eruptive episode of Mount Etna’s Southeast Crater (SEC) on 16 November 2006, which culminated with phreatomagmatic explosions and a peculiar volcaniclastic flowage event, is the subject of different interpretations. Behncke (2009) and Behncke et al. (2008, 2009), interpret the explosions as resulting from mixing of flowing lava with fluid-satur...

Mt Etna is a well monitored basaltic volcano for which high-quality, multidisciplinary data set are continuously available for around-the-clock surveillance. Particularly, volcano-seismic data sets cover decades long local recordings, temporally encompassing different styles of eruptive activity, from Strombolian eruptions to lava fountains and lav...

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has found broad applications in volcano observatories worldwide with the aim of reducing volcanic hazard. The need to process larger and larger quantity of data makes indeed AI techniques appealing for monitoring purposes. Tools based on Artificial Neural Networks and Support Vector Machine have proved to be particularl...

One of the best-studied volcanoes of the world, Mt. Etna in Sicily, repeatedly exhibits eruptive scenarios that depart from the behavior commonly considered typical for this volcano. Episodes of intense explosive activity, pyroclastic flows, dome growth and cone collapse pose a variety of previously underestimated threats to human lives in the summ...

The town of Zafferana Etnea, located on the southeastern slope of Mt. Etna volcano (Italy), has been repeatedly threatened by lava flows in recent centuries. The last serious threat occurred during the 1991–1993 eruption, when the lava front came to a halt only 1.7km from the centre of town. Morphostructural data derived from light detection and ra...

Spectral properties of volcanic materials in the optical region (350–2500 nm) of the electromagnetic spectrum are analyzed. The goal is to characterize air-fall deposits, recent lava flows, and old lava flows based on their spectral reflectance properties and on the textural characteristics (grain size) of pyroclastic deposits at an active basaltic...

The monitoring of the seismic background signal - commonly referred to as volcanic tremor - has become a key tool for volcanic surveillance, particularly when field surveys are unsafe and/or visual observations are hampered by bad weather conditions. Indeed, it could be demonstrated that changes in the state of activity of the volcano show up in th...

Eruptive activity at Mount Etna in 2007-2009 consisted of 7 episodes of lava fountaining and periodic Strombolian activity at the summit, followed by an eruption on the upper east flank that started on 13 May 2008 and is continuing as of May 2009, making this the longest-lasting flank eruption of the volcano since 1993. The lava fountains originate...

Despite the recent recognition of Mount Etna as a periodically violently explosive volcano, the hazards from various types of pyroclastic density currents (PDCs) have until now received virtually no attention at this volcano. Large-scale pyroclastic flows last occurred during the caldera-forming Ellittico eruptions, 15–16 ka ago, and the risk of th...

Three eruptive episodes during the 2006 summit eruptions of Mount Etna were exceptionally well documented by visual, seismic, and thermal monitoring. The first (16 November) was strongly explosive, with vigorous Strombolian activity and ash emission from multiple vents, lava emission, and phreatomagmatic explosions generating pyroclastic density cu...

The monitoring of the seismic background signal – commonly referred to as volcanic tremor - has become a key tool for volcanic surveillance, particularly when field surveys are unsafe and/or visual observations are hampered by bad weather conditions. It is by now widely accepted that changes in the state of activity of the volcano show up in the vo...

One of the best-studied volcanoes of the world, Mt. Etna in Sicily repeatedly exhibits eruptive scenarios that depart from the behavior considered typical for this volcano. Episodes of intense explosive activity, pyroclastic density currents, dome growth, cone collapse, and phreatomagmatic explosions pose a variety of previously underestimated thre...

After 16months of quiescence, Mount Etna began to erupt again in mid-July 2006. The activity was concentrated at and around the Southeast Crater (SEC), one of the four craters on the summit of Etna, and eruptive activity continued intermittently for 5months. During this period, numerous vents displayed a wide range of eruptive styles at different t...

Morphostructural data derived from Lidar (Light detection and ranging) surveys carried out on Mount Etna in 2005 and 2007 are compared with earlier aerophotogrammetric surveys in 1986 and 1998. These data render an unprecedentedly clear and quantitative image of morphostructural and volumetric changes that have affected the summit area of the volca...

The field measurements campaign made in July 2003 on Etna, Vulcano Island and Campi Flegrei was dedicated to the calibration and validation of airborne and spaceborne data. The campaign activities were relevant part of two ASI funded projects: 1) FASA, dedicated to airborne system and data validation/calibration 2) HypSEO, dedicated to multispectra...

Evaluating the hazards posed by geological phenomena constitutes, within the broader framework of ''prediction'', one of the most significant challenges of modern scien-tific research. Nevertheless, modeling and simulation techniques represent a valuable tool for researchers involved in risk assessment and mitigation of the phenomena. The objective...

Airborne Lidar (Light detection and ranging) is a revolutionary technology to produce a high-resolution DEM (Digital Elevation Model) by rapid, accurate and moderate-to-low cost measurements of topography flying over a large area. Morphostructural data derived from Lidar surveys carried out on Mount Etna in 2005 and 2007 are compared with earlier a...

Areas exposed to volcanic risk need to be monitored continuously to reduce the impact of volcanic eruptions by establishing early warning systems, mapping areas exposed to volcanic hazards and taking timely preventive measures. Correct land-use planning is fundamental in minimizing loss of life and damage to property, and to protect the natural and...

The field measurements campaign made in July 2003 on Etna, Vulcano Island and Campi Flegrei was dedicated to the calibration and validation of airborne and spaceborne data. The campaign activities were relevant part of two ASI funded projects: 1) FASA, dedicated to airborne system and data validation/calibration 2) HypSEO, dedicated to multispectr...

16 months after the end of its latest (2004-2005) flank eruption, Etna entered into a new period of summit activity in mid-July 2006, which continued intermittently for five months. All activity was concentrated at and near to the Southeast Crater (SEC), the youngest of Etna's four summit craters, involving a number of vents in different locations...

The eruptive activity of Etna has undergone significant changes during the past 14 years, and these have led to an improved understanding of the relationship between the plumbing system of the volcano and instability of its eastern to southern flanks. Following the end of the 1991-1993 eruption, a new eruptive cycle began, which so far has produced...

Field spectra analyses of volcanic materials are presented and discussed. Data were ac-quired during a spectroradiometric field survey on Mt. Etna. Young fall-out deposits and the older lava flows have been spectrally sampled and correlated to grain size in the case of tephra flow. A number of sites in Mount Etna area characterised by different sur...

Radon (222Rn) is a short-lived decay product derived from 238U, with a half-life of only 3.8 days. This gas ascends towards the earth's surface mainly through cracks or faults. In recent decades radon has been used as a tool for predicting earthquakes and volcanic eruptions, because anomalous variations of its activity have often been reported befo...

The recent eruptive activity of Mount Etna in Sicily (Italy) has been well documented by multidisciplinary instrumental observations, and significantly improved the under-standing of the eruptive dynamics of this volcano. The monitoring networks are cur-rently developed and managed by the Catania Section of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vul...

Continuous soil radon monitoring was carried out near the Southeast Crater (SEC) of Mt. Etna during the 10-day July 2006 Strombolian-effusive eruption. This signal was compared with simultaneously acquired volcanic tremor and thermal radiance data. The onset of explosive activity and a lava fountaining episode were preceded by some hours with incre...

Volcanism at Mount Etna (Italy) has been observed for millennia and inspired ancient mythologies as well as scientific thought through countless generations. Yet much of our understanding of the way this volcano works stems from studies of the past 20 years, and in particular from strengthened monitoring since the late 1980s. In addition, the erupt...

The island of Pantelleria is an active volcano located in the Sicily Channel (Southern Italy), in the middle of a continental rift system. Since the 1980s the island was periodically surveyed by using geodetic techniques (EDM, levelling, GPS and high precise gravimetry) to monitor the regional and local volcanic dynamics. Gravity data, collected be...

Between 1971 and 2001, the Southeast Crater was the most productive of the four summit craters of Mount Etna, with activity that can be compared, on a global scale, to the opening phases of the Pu‘u ‘Ō‘ō-Kūpaianaha eruption of Kīlauea volcano, Hawai‘i. The period of highest eruptive rate was between 1996 and 2001, when near-continuous activity occu...

Although basaltic volcanic eruptions are typically associated with the effusion of lava flows, they can show significant variations in eruptive styles and volume fluxes and are capable of producing significant amounts of tephra to construct sizeable pyroclastic edifices. The classic example is Kilauea on Hawai'i which is famous for its episodic lav...

The emphasis in studies of flank instability at Etna has remained firmly on the north-ern part of the unstable sector where the conspicuously active Pernicana fault sys-tem (PFS) clearly links with the summit area of the volcano and defines the northern boundary of instability. The southern part of the sector, by comparison, has received scant atte...

Invasion of inhabited areas and destruction of human property by lava flows represents the greatest volcanic hazard at Mount Etna (Italy) in the short term, based on the char-acter of the historically documented eruptions of the volcano. Virtually all eruptions of Etna produce lava flows, which are more likely to cause damage when emitted from flan...

Soil radon emission monitoring is a potentially useful tool for predicting earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and furthermore aided in determining the location of active faults. Continuous radon monitoring was carried out at the Southeast Crater, one of the four summit craters of Mt. Etna (Italy) in September-November 1998, during a period of frequ...

The development of the 2004-05 eruption at Etna (Italy) is investigated by means of field surveys, to define the current structural state of the volcano. In 2004-05, a fracture swarm, associated with 3 effusive vents, propagated downslope from the SE summit crater towards SE. This scenario could be easily explained with the lateral em-placement of...

Soil radon emissions have been proved as a useful tool for predicting earthquakes and volcanic eruptions and furthermore aided in determining the location of active faults. Continuous radon monitoring was carried out near Southeast Crater of Mt. Etna in September-November 1998, during a period of frequent eruptive episodes at that crater. Radon ano...

Mount Etna produced two significant eruptions in 2001 and 2002–2003, which we have analysed using geological, seismic and deformation data. These eruptions showed some similarities, such as the activating of two magmatic plumbing systems (central–lateral and eccentric), but they differed in their triggering mechanisms. While the 2001 eruption was l...

Large-scale flank instability on Mount Etna is associated with a distinct set of faults radiating generally from the summit area and restricted to the volcanic edifice itself. New observations and mapping of very recent and continuing deformation along these faults and related structures have been analysed in combination with published information,...

Mount Etna is among the few volcanoes on Earth that erupt nearly continuously, but its activity (in terms of output rate and flank eruption frequency) undergoes significant fluctuations in time. Such fluctuations do not occur in a random manner but represent various stages of eruptive cycles on a scale of decades and centuries. Short-term cycles la...

murru@ingv.it) Three important findings facilitated by multidisciplinary studies have governed recent research on the eruptive and structural behaviour of Mount Etna: (1) the eruptive be-haviour is characterized by cycles both in the short and long term; (2) flank eruptions may be triggered by the slippage of the unstable eastern to southern sector...

Invasion of inhabited areas and destruction of human property by lava flows represents the greatest volcanic hazard at Mount Etna (Italy) in the short term, based on the character of the historically documented eruptions of the volcano. Virtually all eruptions of Etna produce lava flows, which are more likely to cause damage when emitted from flank...

While the eruptive record of Mount Etna is reasonably complete for the past 400 years, the activity of the early and late 1960s, which took place at the summit, is poorly documented in the scientific literature. From 1955 to 1971, the Central and Northeast Craters were the sites of long-lived mild Strombolian and effusive activity, and numerous bri...

The island of Pantelleria is an active volcano located in the Sicily Channel (Southern Italy), in the middle of a continental rift system. Since the 1980s the island is periodically surveyed by means of geodetic techniques (levelling, EDM, GPS and high precise gravimetry) to monitor the local and regional volcanic dynamics. The analysis of the grav...

Since ∼200 Ma, the Hyblean Mountains (southeastern Sicily) have been the site of recurrent, mainly submarine, mafic volcanism. In the upper Pliocene, large volumes of tholeiitic products were erupted in a shallow marine environment, leading to the growth of volcanic islands. The deposits of this tholeiitic episode can be grouped into two main facie...

Flank instability and collapse are observed at many volcanoes. Among these, Mt. Etna is characterized by the spreading of its eastern and southern flanks. The eastern spreading area is bordered to the north by the E–W-trending Pernicana Fault System (PFS). During the 2002–2003 Etna eruption, ground fracturing along the PFS migrated eastward from th...

Mount Etna (Italy) produced two important flank eruptions in 2001 and 2002-2003, which were peculiar for their high degrees of explosivity and for the simultaneous emission of two compositionally distinct magmas. From a strictly volcanological point of view, the 2001 and 2002-2003 eruptions showed many similarities. Both affected two sides of the v...

Mt. Etna is characterized by the large-scale spreading of its eastern and south-ern flanks. The northern boundary of the unstable area consists of the E-W trend-ing 18 km long Pernicana Fault System (PFS). The 2002-2003 Etna eruption is studied through earthquake distributions and surface fracturing. In September 2002, earthquake-induced surface ru...

The 2002-2003 Etna eruption is studied through earthquake distributions and surface fracturing. In September 2002, earthquake-induced surface rupture (sinistral offset ~0.48 m) occurred along the E-W striking Pernicana Fault (PF), on the NE flank. In late October, a flank eruption accompanied further (~0.77 m) surface rupturing, reaching a total si...

The July–August 2001 eruption of Mt. Etna stimulated widespread public and media interest, caused significant damage to tourist facilities, and for several days threatened the town of Nicolosi on the S flank of the volcano. Seven eruptive fissures were active, five on the S flank between 3,050 and 2,100m altitude, and two on the NE flank between 3,...

Mount Etna is among the few volcanoes on Earth that erupt nearly continuously, but its activity (in terms of output rate and flank eruption frequency) undergoes significant fluctuations in time. Such fluctuations do not occur randomly, but represent various stages of cycles on a scale of decades and centuries. Reccurent patterns are particularly ev...

During an eruption at the Bocca Nuova, one of the summit craters of Mt. Etna, in October–November 1999 a part of the crater floor near its WNW rim was uplifted to form a dome-shaped feature that consisted of older lava and pyroclastics filling the crater. This endogenous dome grew rapidly over the crater rim, thus being perched precariously over th...

Mt. Etna is characterized by active spreading of its eastern and southern flanks. The eastern unstable area is bordered, to the north, by the E-W trending Pernicana Fault System (PFS), previously believed to be ∼9 km long. Its precise eastern termination, and thus the extent of the collapsing area, were not clearly defined, due to the lack of recen...

The Pleistocene sedimentary succession around the north Hyblean Mountain margin is dominated by three carbonate units, which are the subjects of this study. These "temperate" bioclastic carbonates developed around the shelf margin of a graben-generated embayment (Lentini Graben) and volcanic sea-mount topography facing the Catania Plain. Although s...

The Late Miocene to Pleistocene evolution of the northwestern Iblean plateau (Sicily) is marked by a complex interplay of subaerial and submarine volcanism, subsidence and uplift, eustatic sea-level changes, and shallow-water carbonate and clay sedimentation. Volcanic activity occurred in distinct phases, differing drastically in volume, chemical c...