Mount Etna and the 1971 eruption - Introduction

Abstract

The present publication, collated and edited by Dr J. E. Guest and Dr R. R. Skelhorn, arises out of a Discussion Meeting on Mount Etna and the 1971 eruption held at the Royal Society on 9 and 10 February 1972 and organized by Professor J. Sutton, F.R.S., Dr J. E. Guest, Dr R. R. Skelhorn and Professor R. L. Wilson, on behalf of the Royal Society and of the Volcanic Studies Group of the Geological Society of London. The papers presented in this volume include those read and discussed at the meeting, together with others submitted separately for publication, and summarize conveniently and well the present state of knowledge of the structure, geological history and eruptive behaviour of the Etna volcano, as well as of the chemistry and physical properties of its magmatic products, both lavas and gases. Although recent research, particularly by Italian and French investigators, has led to a significant increase, both in the amount and in the depth of our knowledge of the volcano, much remains to be done; and the present summary, for example, emphasizes somewhat surprisingly that very little is in fact known in detail about the chemistry and petrology of the lavas of most of the more recent historic eruptions.