Gole dell'Alcantara / Alcantara Gorge (Sicily)
N 37° 52.795 E 015° 10.419
33S E 515270 N 4192506
This Italian stamp is devoted to the volcanic basalt gorge Gole dell'Alcantara, one of the most interesting geological natural monuments in Sicily...
Waymark Code: WM881V
Location: Sicilia, Italy
Date Posted: 02/17/2010
Views: 15
Gole dell'Alcantara, geological natural monument of basalt rock, was created by the eruption of the volcano Monte Moio, Etna's most eccentric side crater, around 2400 BC.
The lava flow flooded the entire valley of the Alcantara river a s far as its mouth on the coast, where the Greeks founded their first colony in Sicily. In the Sciara Larderia region the river of lava reached a thickness of 70 m. While still white-hot, and due to a telluric settling, a sinuous longitudinal crack opened in the lava over a length of 500 m, 70 m deep and only 5 m wide, thus assuming the appearance of a gorge.