The earthquake off the coast of Fuerteventura was strong enough to be felt in the Canary Islands. Meanwhile, preparations for volcanic emergencies are under way on Tenerife.
Volcanic eruptions in the Canary Islands
Volcanic eruptions are rare in the Canary Islands. Volcanic activity, on the other hand, is not. Find out everything you need to know about both topics here:
Everything you need to know about the volcanic eruption on La Palma
The earth has trembled once again on El Hierro. Seismologists have recorded eleven tremors over the past seven days.
Near El Hierro, the earth trembled with a magnitude of 2.2 at a depth of 31 kilometres. The IGN recorded 69 earthquakes in 30 days.
An earthquake measuring 2.0 on the Richter scale struck off the coast of Tenerife. Seismologists have recently reported several tectonic earthquakes at the same location.
Magma is accumulating beneath Pico Viejo, a subsidiary volcano of Mount Teide on Tenerife. It is precisely there that the island has been experiencing increased seismic activity for the past ten years.
Volcanic eruptions in the Canary Islands
It has been around 36 million years since the Canary Islands were formed. This took place in four phases – through volcanic activity. So what was necessary back then to create the islands can be frightening today. Because the islands are still active. Back then, it was submarine eruptions that first gave rise to Fuerteventura and Lanzarote – initially joined together, but now separated by a channel around ten kilometres wide. Later, Gran Canaria, Tenerife and La Gomera were formed. It took a long time still before La Palma and El Hierro finally emerged. They are ‚only‘ around 1.2 million years old.
The Canary Islands are still considered volcanically active. And, in addition to earthquakes, this leads to eruptions every few decades – sometimes underwater, sometimes on the Earth’s surface. On this page, you can find out everything about volcanic eruptions in the Canary Islands – and, of course, about other volcanic activity on and around the archipelago.