Etna Eruption, Sicily Photograph: Giuseppe Mario Famiani
Etna volcano in eruption (crater ‘Voragine’). Photo taken from the town of Cesarò (1150mt a.s.l.), in the province of Messina, on 4 December 2015, 30 km as the crow flies. The column of smoke reached 15km in height above the Etna Volcano (3350mt). The resemblance to a mushroom cloud is rendered thanks to the absence of clouds and wind.
2020: Crater Bluff (trachyte) and Tonduron Spire (trachyandesite) are classic examples of volcanic plugs found in the Warrumbungles range, a volcanic complex formed in the mid-Miocene.
2022: Sawn Rocks, Mount Kaputar National Park. As the Australasian plate moved north during the Tertiary, there were continuous volcanic complexes developed down through QLD, NSW and Victoria, getting younger as you went south. Mt Kaputar is a former shield volcano (18 Ma) that formed part of the Nandewar Range.
The blast was heard in New Zealand, over 1400mi/2253km away. According to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization, the eruption triggered every one of their nuclear monitor stations on Earth, multiple times, as the planet rang like a bell. Depending on who you ask, this event was the equivalent of a 10 - 50 megaton hydrogen bomb.
