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Pantelleria Island

Pantelleria

Shield volcano · Italy · 836m

The 15-km-long island of Pantelleria is constructed above a drowned continental rift in the Strait of Sicily. Part of the mostly buried arcuate rims of two large Pleistocene calderas are seen in this NASA Landsat image (with N to the top). The SE rims of the calderas form the two dark-colored lines at the lower right part of the island, below and to the right of the forested Monte Grande and Monte Gibele volcanoes. Monte Gibele, with its circular summit crater, was constructed in the southern part of the younger Cinque Denti caldera.
The 15-km-long island of Pantelleria is constructed above a drowned continental rift in the Strait of Sicily. Part of the mostly buried arcuate rims of two large Pleistocene calderas are seen in this NASA Landsat image (with N to the top). The SE rims of the calderas form the two dark-colored lines at the lower right part of the island, below and to the right of the forested Monte Grande and Monte Gibele volcanoes. Monte Gibele, with its circular summit crater, was constructed in the southern part of the younger Cinque Denti caldera. · Photo: NASA Landsat 7 image (worldwind.arc.nasa.gov) · Wikimedia Commons
Type
Shield volcano
Country
Italy
Region
European Volcanic Regions / Sicily Volcanic Province
Elevation
836m
Coordinates
36.770, 12.020
Last eruption
1891
Tectonic setting
Rift zone / Continental crust (> 25 km)
Landform
Shield
Major rock type
Rhyolite
Geological summary

The island of Pantelleria is constructed above a drowned continental rift in the Strait of Sicily and has been the locus of intensive volcano-tectonic activity. Two large Pleistocene calderas dominate the island, which contains numerous post-caldera lava domes and cinder cones and is the type locality for peralkaline rhyolitic rocks, pantellerites. The 15-km-long island is the emergent summit of a largely submarine edifice. The 6-km-wide Cinque Denti caldera, the youngest of the two calderas, formed about 45,000 years ago and contains the two post-caldera shield volcanoes of Monte Grande and Monte Gibele. Holocene eruptions have constructed pumice cones, lava domes, and short, blocky lava flows. Many Holocene vents are located on three sides of the uplifted Montagna Grande block on the SE side of the island. A submarine eruption in 1891 from a vent ~4 km off the NW coast is the only confirmed historical activity.

From Wikipedia

Pantelleria, known in ancient times as Cossyra or Cossura, is an Italian island and comune in the Strait of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea, 106 kilometres southwest of Sicily and 68 km (35 nmi) east of the Tunisian coast. On clear days Tunisia is visible from the island. Administratively Pantelleria's comune belongs to the Sicilian province of Trapani.

Wikipedia · CC BY-SA · Read full article →

Eruption history

Summary (VEI over time)
Click a bar to see individual eruptions
7050 BCE~6752 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?6156 BCE~5858 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?5858 BCE~5560 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?4666 BCE~4368 BCE · 2 eruptions · max VEI ?1089 BCE~791 BCE · 1 eruptions · max VEI ?1593~1891 · 3 eruptions · max VEI 17050 BCE4964 BCE2579 BCE493 BCE1593

Detailed timeline

  1. 1891VEI 1Observed
    1891-10-17 – 1891-10-25
    Foerstner (4 km NNW of Pantelleria)
  2. 1891VEI ?Geological estimate
    1891-12 – Ongoing
    South of Pantelleria
  3. 1831VEI ?Geological estimate
    1831 – Ongoing
    Off the northern coast
  4. 1080 BCE (±300 yrs)VEI ?Geological estimate
    BCE 1080 – Ongoing
    Hingeline vent system
  5. 4430 BCE (±200 yrs)VEI ?Geological estimate
    BCE 4430 – Ongoing
    Cuddia Randazzo
  6. 4550 BCE (±300 yrs)VEI ?Geological estimate
    BCE 4550 – Ongoing
    Serra della Fastuca
  7. 5610 BCE (±100 yrs)VEI ?Geological estimate
    BCE 5610 – Ongoing
    Punta Tracino
  8. 6130 BCE (±75 yrs)VEI ?Geological estimate
    BCE 6130 – Ongoing
    Cuddia Patite ?
  9. 7050 BCEVEI ?Geological estimate
    BCE 7050 – Ongoing
    Cuddia di Mida, Valenza

External links

⚠ For reference only. Not for emergency response.