Mount Etna is Europe's largest volcano (350 km3), and one of the most active volcanoes on Earth, with frequent periods of intermittent to persistent activity in the summit area and major eruptions from eruptive centers on its flanks every 2-20 years. The main feature of Etnean activity is voluminous lava emission, but strong explosive activity occurs occasionally, mostly from its presently four summit craters. Etna is particular for a number of reasons. First, it has the longest record of historical eruptions among all volcanoes on this planet, its first historically documented eruption occurring at about 1500 BC. The total number of eruptions is 209 eruptions through late 1993. To these, there have now to be added the spectacular and vigorous summit eruptions of 1995-2001, the flank eruption of July-August 2001, and the vigorous ash emissions initiated in late March 2002. Etna lies in an area that is still not well understood from a geological standpoint. While some scientists relate, in a broader sense, the Etnean volcanism to subduction of the Ionian oceanic seafloor beneath the Calabrian Arc (with volcanism on the Aeolian Islands as one consequence), others postulate a hot spot beneath Etna, thus explaining its high lava production and fluid mafic magmas. Still another hypothesis sees Etna in a complex rifting environment, and among the few things which are quite well understood is the fact that the volcano lies at the intersection of several major regional fault systems. Whatever of this is true, it is evident that Etna lies in a very complex geodynamic environment hardly comparable to any other region on Earth. There is some evidence that Etna is but the most recent manifestation of volcanism fed from a very long-lived mantle source, having caused numerous earlier phases of mafic volcanism in the Monti Iblei, SE Sicily, from the late Triassic to the early Pleistocene.

• It is Europes most biggest volcano
• Lat erupted in august 2010

Hopee thiss kindaa helpss :D xoxox

<3 <3 <3

In recent history, the 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora has been the most violent volcanic eruption and also the most deadly, killing 92,000 people. This eruption also resulted in a major climatic change, causing what was known as "The Year Without a Summer". During the summer of 1816 Europe experienced frost and snow during the month of July, this caused widespread famine and crops worldwide to fail.

In the past 5,000 years, the "Taupo", New Zealand eruption was the biggest ever witnessed and recorded by humans. This occurred approximately 1800 years ago. The eruption lasted for several weeks and produced a sequence of pumice deposits which blanketed the landscape east of current day lake Taupo. Approximately 30km³ of pumice, ash and rock fragments were ejected in just a few minutes. These fragments travelled horizontally, as a liquid flow, and moved at speeds estimated to be somewhere between 600-900kmh. It crossed every obstacle in its path except the top of New Zealand's current highest volcano - Mt Raupehu. An eruption column 50 metres high was produced (twice as high as the 1980 Mt St Helen's eruption column), and the effects were seen in the sky as far away as Europe and China where records of it are still recorded to this day.

As for archaeological history, it's a toss up between the Toba Caldera, Sumatra Indonesia, which erupted approximately 74,000 BC, and the Huckleberry Ridge Tuff Eruption of Yellowstone Caldera, USA, which occurred approximately 2.1 million years ago.

In geologic history, it might be the the La Garita Caldera eruption in Colorado, about 28 million years ago, in the Oligocene Epoch. That put 5000 cubic kilometers of lava into play. There may be larger ones, but the farther back in time we go, the more geologic evidence is destroyed by tectonic activity.

Finally, it is likely that the most powerful eruptions ever were the Siberian Traps about 250 million years ago. The highest ranking on the volcanic scale is VEI 8; These are super eruptions. Yellow Stone and Lake Toba caldera were both VEI8's and Tambora was a VEI 7. But the Siberian traps would have been far off the scale. The Siberian traps were likely responsible for a mass extinction: the death of 95% of all life on Earth.

the height of mt Etna is 3,350 m tall!!!??? xx