One Mount Etna eruption took weeks. Another happened in hours

Mount Etna’s ancient eruptions followed radically different paths, with some magma lingering near the surface for weeks while other magma raced upward from nearly 30 kilometers deep in just hours. Scientists traced the difference to volcanic gases such as carbon dioxide and water, offering a powerful new way to understand and potentially anticipate explosive eruptions. One Mount Etna eruption took weeks. Another happened in hours.

Another happened in hours Date: September 13, 2026. Even a single volcano can produce eruptions through very different processes. A Cornell-led research team has now shown just how dramatically those pathways can vary at Mount Etna in Italy.

By reconstructing two major eruptions from the volcano’s past, the scientists found that magma followed very different routes and moved toward the surface at very different speeds. Understanding those differences, along with the techniques used to uncover them, could help scientists improve models used to estimate the risks posed by future eruptions. The findings were recently published in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems.