#MudVolcanoOfTheDay (#156) is Paternò mud volcano in Sicily, Italy.

No, not that huge mountain – that’s the volcano Etna.

Paternò is the grey area marked by a red pin, which sits right at the base of Etna. However, there are suggestions of a possible link between the two….

The Paternò mud volcano is located right on the NW edge of the large town of Paternò in eastern Sicily, and ~21km south of the summit of Etna.
https://goo.gl/maps/gF3qJsw2dWnZ3kRaA

The MV is on a small hill, right next to a velodrome named for this ‘Salinelle’

The Paternò mud volcano sits on a small hilltop and covers and area ~350m wide. It has a central main vent area, with lots of large visible vents, and two smaller vent areas, one to the west and one coming out of a small slope to the south.

The main vent area is spectacularly clear on some of the Google earth images! You can clearly see the line of active vents, which look mostly like large salses.

Wow, check out the lovely radial mud cracks (visible from space!!) in this image.

The Paternò mud volcano had a big eruption in 2014, caught very clearly in these before and after images. The eruption flooded over the adjacent road.

There are quite a few nice ground photos of the Paternò mud volcano, and it is reported that the main vent area is always quite active and bubbling away – though not easily accessible due to the soft mud.

Photo by Guido Ella Latina from Google Earth.

Recent reports are that the MV is closed off, and people have dumped a lot of litter around – so it is sadly neglected.

I believe all the Sicily MVs were closed after the tragic death of two small children at Macalube mud volcano in 2014 (MVOTD #027). https://twitter.com/CriticalStress_/status/1132976602957066241?s=20

But wait - didn’t I mention a possible link to Etna? Well, locals believe that the Paternò mud volcano shows more activity before big Etna eruptions. Any connection has been dismissed by local geologists. @NatGeo article on this here: https://www.nationalgeographic.com.au/nature/get-sucked-into-this-mesmerizing-view-of-a-mud-volcano.aspx

Paternò is a ‘cold’ mud volcano, with an entirely separate plumbing system to Etna. So, direct connection is unlikely. But maybe its possible for seismicity or stress changes from Etna activity to indirectly affect the MV plumbing system?

Photo: Basilio Busa from Google Maps

It remains uncertain, and should be emphasised that any connection with Etna is anecdotal at best.

So, that wraps up today's thread on the big Pattern mud volcano of Eastern Sicily, in the shadow of the mighty Mount Etna!

Photo: Valerio Giangrasso from Google Maps