An angry Mount Etna scorches the skies over Sicily with a tremendous eruption. a magnificent display of volcanic lightning Taken on December 3, 2015 by Sicilian photographer Marco Restivo.
The incredible pictures show Europe's tallest active volcano spitting fire and sending plumes of smoke into the air.
This is the first eruption to reach the surface of Etna's Voragine crater in two years.
Snapper Marco used photo editing software to overlap five images to create one single picture which shows volcano lightning under a cloud of dense smoke.
Berkeley geologists (University of California - Berkely) have uncovered compelling evidence that an asteroid impact on Earth 66 million years ago accelerated the eruptions of volcanoes in India for hundreds of thousands of years, and that together these planet-wide catastrophes caused the extinction of many land and marine animals, including the dinosaurs.
For 35 years, paleontologists and geologists have debated the role these two global events played in the last mass extinction, with one side claiming the eruptions were irrelevant, and the other side claiming the impact was a blip in a long-term die-off.
The new evidence includes the most accurate dates yet for the volcanic eruptions before and after the impact.
The new dates show that the Deccan Traps lava flows, which at the time were erupting at a slower pace, doubled in output within 50,000 years of the asteroid or comet impact that is thought to have initiated the last mass extinction on Earth.
Both the impact and the volcanism would have blanketed the planet with dust and noxious fumes, drastically changing the climate and sending many species to an early grave.
The top 10 deadliest volcanic eruptions in history are:
10: Huaynaputina, Peru 09: Krakatoa, Indonesia 08: Santa Maria Volcano, Guatemala 07: Novarupta, Alaska 06: Mount Pinatubo, Philippines 05: Ambrym Island, Republic of Vanuatu 04: Ilopango Volcano, El Salvador 03: Mt. Thera, Greece 02: Changbaishan Volcano, China 01: Mt. Tambora, Indonesia
These volcano eruptions destroyed civilizations, plunged global temperatures, and caused global crop failures.
