The Large Explosive Activity of Mt. Etna as Recorded in Distal Tephrostratigraphy

Mt. Etna is renowned for being the most active and highest volcano in Europe. Lava flows and weak explosive eruptions characterize its activity, but intermediate to large explosive eruptions have punctuated its eruptive history. Marine and lacustrine distal records are excellent archives for the recognition of past large explosive activity at Mt. Etna, as testified by the recognition of distal tephra layers of Pleistocene to Holocene age. These data are, to date, neither organised nor correlated to the proximal stratigraphic and chronological records. Here, we propose the reorganisation and correlation of the distal tephra layers from Mt. Etna in order to decipher the timings and frequency of its major explosive eruptions.