Evolution of volcanism around the eastern sector of Mt. Etna, inland and offshore, in the structural framework of eastern Sicily

Abstract The authors highlight a new perspective to understanding the volcanism in the Mt. Etna eastern sector, inland and offshore, based on original studies of the sea floor off the Ionian coast of Etna by means of various direct surveying methods (underwater explorations) and indirect ones (bathymetric reconstructions using echosounders). They also propose a new interpretation of geophysical, geochemical and structural surveys carried out over the last two decades. Results show that eastern Etnean sector's volcanism extends as far as the Ionian Sea, to a maximum distance from the coast of probably about 20 km. In their opinion, the absence of outcropping apparatuses in the lower eastern flank of Etna is due to these apparatuses being buried by a large detritic formation (“Chiancone”) due to the dismantling of the Ancient Alkaline Centres (AAC) localised to the West. The authors consider the structures highlighted by the study of the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the Ionian sea floor and by the Multibeam analysis (Marani et al., 2004. From Seafloor to Deep Mantle: Architecture of the Tyrrhenian Backarc Basin, vol. 44. Mem. Descr. Carta Geol. Ital. pp. 1–2) to be of a volcanic nature. This hypothesis opens up a new field of study within the evolution of the eastern Etnean edge's volcanism, inland and offshore, in the last 500 Ky and would further confirm the eruptive axes migration from East to West.