Pelagian Block

The Sicily volcanoes are located in a variety of structural settings and on different types of bedrocks. Mount Etna (about 0.6 Ma to present) occurs on the accretionary prism of the Africa-Europe subducting system, at the contact between the Ionian lithosphere, the northern margin of the African plate (Pelagian Block, a promontory of the African foreland) and the corrugated Sicilian-Maghrebian chain (Fig. 8.1 Behncke 2001). 

The Island of Pantelleria is located in the NW-SE trending rift zone affecting the Pelagian block (Pantelleria rift Fig. 8.1). The volcano rises about 1000 m above the sea floor and reaches an altitude of 836 m above sea level. The structural setting is dominated by NW-SE and N-S trending fractures. A NE-SW tensile fault system divides the island into two sectors. The northwestern sector contains most of the exposed basaltic rocks, whereas the southeastern sector is constructed entirely by silicic peralka-line rocks (Fig. 8.10). 

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