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Once
arrived at the site where this phenomenon takes place, we were impressed
by the relentless
ability of nature to create spectacular shapes from the mud gushing
out and reaching sometimes 1,5
m. in height. So sudden and quick are these jets that only an equally
quick shot can catch the
various shapes sketched in the air.
The “salinelle” are
jets of water and clay rich in mineral salts: these materials accumulate
on surface
and build up several mud volcanoes, some of whom of remarkable dimensions.
The temperature of these thermal waters is not so high, ranging between
16 and 18 degrees; only
during some paroxysmal episodes occurred in 1866, 1879 and 1954,
temperatures between 46 and
49 degrees were recorded.
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The
main cause of the “salinelle” phenomenon is a magma
chamber: it’s supposed that they
represent a connection between the activity of Etna and the latest
phases of a primordial volcanic
activity whose present evidence is the small volcano of Paternò,
which is considered one of the first
volcanic phenomenon of the pre-etnean area in a sub-aerial environment. |
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The
high salt content of the water rising to the surface is the cause
for the lack of vegetation and the
presence of white incrustations. The activity of these mud volcanoes
alternates spectacular mud
flows to dormancy periods.
Many are the legends about the “salinelle: the Ancient Greeks,
for instance, considered this
phenomenon to be a sign of the power of Gods.
Anyway, they (the salinelle) never failed to arouse feelings of admiration
among the foreign
visitors on tour in Sicily: for Guy the Maupassant, for instance,
these mud volcanoes were similar
to pimples caused by a terrible disease of nature (1885).
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In his
treatise “Natural and General History
of Etna” (1815) the volcanologist Giuseppe Recupero
writes:
"….they (the salinelle) are so amazing that I would
like to call them “water volcanoes” because
of the similarities between these water jets and the fire jets
called “volcanoes”.
“… .they are basins of cloudy boiling water. This aspect leads to
believe that these fountains are
considerably hot. But once dipped one hand in them we find out, contrary
to expectations, that
water is very hot in some basins, in others lukewarm and in others
very cold….” |
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This very important naturalistic
site has given us the opportunity to seize some particularly artistic
images created not only by the mud jets and the boiling water,
but also by the
mud flows
overlapping the already exsiccated ones.
All this, filmed from a high elevation,
might appear as
material being emitted from the main crater of a huge volcano which easily
reminds us of the
nearby Etna... |
CLICK
ON THE PHOTO GALLERY ON THE MACCALUBE OF PATERNO’ |
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