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Earth

Mount Etna may not really be a ‘proper’ volcano at all

By Colin Barras

15 January 2018

Âé¶¹´«Ã½. Science news and long reads from expert journalists, covering developments in science, technology, health and the environment on the website and the magazine.

Mount Etna certainly behaves a lot like a volcano

Salvatore Allegra/AP/Rex/Shutterstock

Mount Etna, one of the world’s most famous volcanoes, may be misunderstood. According to one geologist, the material feeding the cone is mostly water, so Etna is effectively a giant hot spring. But other geologists are unconvinced.

Mount Etna in Italy is almost constantly active. It’s been estimated that . But what really puzzles at the University of Catania, Italy – about 30 kilometres from the volcano – is that Etna also belches out

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