#volcanicactivity

🇮🇹 Eruption of Mount Etna: Spectacular Explosions and Shock Waves

🌋 On June 19, 2025, intense explosive activity was observed at the southeast crater of Mount Etna, located on the island of Sicily, Italy. The eruption featured striking shock waves accompanying a series of powerful explosions.

🎥 Footage shared by @mondoterremoti, originally captured by Matteo Maurigi, shows the dramatic force of the blasts and ash plumes rising from the crater.

⚠️ Mount Etna remains one of the most active volcanoes in Europe, and this latest episode highlights its ongoing volcanic threat.

Athanasius Kircher’s The Vulcano’s: or, Burning and Fire-Vomiting Mountains (London, 1669) includes this fold-out frontispiece showing his theories on how fire and water interacted through an elaborate system of interconnected  subterranean channels and vents that resulted in volcanic activity (or, as the title suggests, fire-vomiting!). Notice the cross section of an erupting Mount Vesuvius in the third image. 

For the month of June we are participating in the #PeakOfOurCollections challenge, sponsored by the John Carter Brown Library, highlighting collection materials that feature mountains and volcanoes.

🇷🇺 Shiveluch Volcano Eruption in Kamchatka

🌋 On January 28, 2026, the Shiveluch volcano, one of the most active volcanoes in the region, erupted in Kamchatka. The eruption produced powerful emissions of ash and gas, with an ash plume rising to a significant height and spreading over tens of kilometers.

The volcanic activity was accompanied by the movement of hot pyroclastic flows and increased seismic activity in the area surrounding the volcano. The threat to populated areas was assessed as low, but aviation authorities issued a heightened alert.

🇳🇮 Nicaragua: Increased Activity at Masaya Volcano — New Eruption Recorded

On December 1, 2025, the Masaya volcano, located 25 km southeast of Managua, produced a sudden short-lived eruption, confirming a high alert level — 4 out of 5 (status: erupting).

🌋 Masaya is one of Nicaragua’s most active and unusual volcanoes. Unlike most volcanoes in subduction zones, it erupts fluid basaltic lava, and in the 16th century it even contained an active lava lake, which the Spanish Conquistadors called the “lake of molten gold.”

🔹 Current activity is concentrated in the Santiago crater, where thermal emissions along with gas and ash releases are being observed.

📌 The situation remains tense, and scientists continue close monitoring.

🇮🇷 Mount Damavand — an extinct volcanic peak of the Alborz mountain range in northern Iran, located approximately 42 miles (68 km) northeast of Tehran. Its steep, snow-covered cone was formed by lava and ash flows and is topped with a small crater containing sulfur deposits. The last eruption of Damavand occurred about 7,300 years ago.

🌋 Fumaroles (vents emitting steam and gases) are observed at the volcano’s summit, indicating that it is still active. In recent days, steam and gas emissions from the crater have intensified, drawing attention and raising concerns among scientists.