Posted by dylan on Tuesday, May 23, 2017 in 2017 Blog post.

This week, we took a bus to Etna Nord and hiked around the face of the mountain; despite the strong winds and biting precipitation, the climb to the crater was one of my favorite things we’ve done so far this trip. Our guide explained the tectonic history of Etna, telling us the connections from the various craters to the magma chambers, all of it fueled by the african plate being subducted beneath the eurasian plate and the resultant pressure melting the rock that makes up the crust.

The mountain provides wonderful resources; for one, the minerals brought up from the magma make the soil extremely fertile. The rich soil of Sicily has been an important source of agricultural products ever since the Romans, and the slopes of Etna continue to provide all manner of fruits and vegetables; the altitude allows for a vast range of climates to support nearly any sort of plant. This same altitude allows for some incredible views that pictures really can’t do justice.

However, this doesn’t come without a price. The pressure built up by the tectonic movement below builds up until even the massive amount of rock above can hold it down no longer; in 2002 such an event occurred: Mount Etna erupted, (among other things) completely destroying the hotel Piano Provenzana. On our hike, we passed the remains of the hotel, which served as a sobering reminder that we can’t always just flippantly make use of what’s around us; we need to respect the dangers of nature, even though it provides wonderful things.