Mount Etna, on the Italian island of Sicily, is one of the world's most active volcanoes, but this is not the only thing that worries scientists. A recent study warned that the mountain might slide into the sea.
If the scientists' expectations are met, the mountain slide will cause a massive tsunami that could destroy much of the eastern Mediterranean.
It quoted "CNBC" for Morelia Oorlob, a researcher at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Research Center for Ocean, in the city of Kiel, Germany, as saying: "pull gravity of the mountain down strongly, and could easily pull off the sea, where there is nothing to stop it."
Scientists have recorded slow movement of the volcano since the 1990s, but Orlob and her colleagues used a network of underwater sensors along the southeastern part of the volcano to get an accurate assessment of its movement.
Eta slips by 2 to 3 centimeters per year, according to data published by researchers last October. Sensors also detected movement in parts far from the center of volcanic activity, which excludes the hypothesis that "magma" or magma is responsible About the mountain movement.
The researchers ruled out the possibility of a rapid slide of the mountain towards the sea, stressing that such collapses are common in the life cycle of volcanoes, especially with volcano such as "Atna", estimated at the age of 500 thousand years.
Despite the assurances of scientists, the history record cases of avalanches of volcanic sudden and rapid, in May 1980, the north side of Mount St. Helens collapsed in Washington state, following an earthquake was magnitude 5.1 on the Richter scale and caused Banzlaqat resulted in the death of 57 people and economic losses Valued at $ 1.1 billion.
