Italy's Etna Volcano Throws Lava Bombs in Its First Big Eruption of 2017

Europe's biggest and most powerful volcano, Mount Etna, erupts sending an ash cloud across the holiday isle of Sicily.Getty Images After one of the most quiet years in decades, Etna has decided to make 2017 a little more exciting. Early this week, the volcano had a moderate strombolian eruption, what the folks who monitor Etna call a "paroxysm," that produced a lava fountain over the summit of the volcano. Strombolian eruptions (named after nearby Stromboli) are caused by gas-rich magma reaching the surface and erupting explosively. They also tend to produce lava flows at the same time, but they are less intense explosions than a plinian eruption (like what happened at Pinatubo or St. Helens). Some of the images of the eruption show a stream of lava coming from the New Southeast Crater while strombolian explosions threw lava bombs hundreds of meters from the vent. The ash from this eruption ...