Raging Mad: Eruption Extends In Cumbre Vieja Volcano In La Palma Island

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   • 19/10/21 D Apertura de nueva boca eru...  


La Palma is a volcanic ocean island located on the African Plate and is currently – along with Tenerife – one of the most volcanically active of the Canary Islands. Since about 125,000 years ago (~125 ka), all sub-aerial eruptive activity on La Palma has been associated with the Cumbre Vieja, with eruptions ranging over the whole ~25 kilometres long ridge. Submarine surveys show that the Cumbre Vieja continues south of Punta de Fuencaliente (the "Point of the Hot Source"), but no volcanic activity connected with the submarine extension has yet been observed or recorded. Historical eruptions on the Cumbre Vieja occurred in 1470, 1585, 1646, 1677, 1712, 1949, 1971, and 2021.

Detailed geological mapping shows that the distribution and orientation of vents and feeder dykes within the volcano have shifted from a triple rift system (typical of most volcanic ocean islands) to one consisting of a single north-south rift. It is hypothesised that this structural reorganisation is in response to evolving stress patterns associated with the development of a possible detachment fault under the volcano's west flank. Siebert (1984) showed that such failures are due to the intrusion of parallel and sub-parallel dykes into a rift. This causes the flanks to become over-steep and this inevitably causes the structure of the volcano to become unstable and catastrophic failure may occur. There is no evidence that the 1949 section of the rift extends in a north-south direction beyond its surface expression, nor that there is a developing detachment plane. Research is ongoing.

An earthquake swarm started under Cumbre Vieja on 11 September 2021. It slowly migrated to the surface, with earthquakes up to around 3.5 on the Richter scale, and over 20,000 recorded in the space of a week. On 19 September at 3.15 pm local time, the volcano started erupting, in Cabeza de Vaca in the Montaña Rajada mountains, in the Las Manchas section of El Paso municipality, .A yellow warning was issued, covering 35,000 people in the municipalities of Los Llanos de Aridane, Fuencaliente, El Paso and Villa de Mazo, later raising to its highest level—red—due to the eruption. A total of around 5,000 people are expected to be evacuated from the area.