T'owd volcano shows no signs of stopping ....

Had a Timanfaya bbq in 2003, cracking day out. Love anything to do with volancoes, earthquakes, destructive and disruptive weather. Mother nature is amazing and cruel. All the more reason to look after the old girl and the nature which inhabits her.

 

Very interesting, thanks.
I have only been to Tenerife once and the volcano Teide is THE most amazing thing I have ever seen. I couldn't get enough of it, we drove up to the caldera several times and we were still so far short of the main peak.
The volcanic landscape is truly awe inspiring and can be found from all ends of the island. It cannot be described here, I do not have the words, but if ever you go to Tenerife then please don't just go for the sun, sea and the beaches.
And for goodness sake take a camera. You will never see a dramatic landscape like it anywhere else. I'd go back tomorrow if I could and spend every day up there.
The drive down the Masca road is one of the wonders of the world and is all a result of volcanic activity. Unbelievable.

 

Volcanoes are my passion/obsession. I’ve been watching the live stream of La Palma every night before bed for an hour or two. Always been obsessed with volcanoes.

The Canary Islands all exist because of the Canary hotspot - not tectonic activity. This is a plume of superheated rock coming up from the mantle and creating a weak spot in the Earth’s crust. The tectonic plate over the hotspot moves over time, so Fuerteventura and Lanzarote (which used to all be one island) are the oldest and La Palma/El Hierro are the newest. It’s the same system at work in Hawaii.

All the islands are still officially active, including Fuerteventura, which the tour guides always tell you is dead. That one last erupted 8,000 years ago, and the scientific definition of an active volcano is “any volcano that is currently erupting or has erupted in the last 10,000 years”. It will erupt again.

La Palma and the tsunami risk is very interesting. The outright fearmongering over the megatsunami is a load of crap. These flank collapses, while inherently dangerous, are geologically common in the Canary Islands. You need only look at the shape/topography of La Palma to see where it’s happened before. But these collapses don’t happen all in one go. They go in phases. This can be proved by the many examples of collapse scars and the relative lack of tsunami deposits. A 20m wave hitting the US east coast every time one of these dropped would leave layer upon layer of very obvious tsunami deposit, yet these deposits don’t exist.

The Canary volcanoes do provide some unique geology and unique hazards. Whilst most of their eruptions are Hawaiian-style effusive eruptions (VEI 1), they are also capable of rare, caldera forming explosive eruptions an order of magnitude bigger than St Helens in 1980 or the Pompeii Vesuvius eruption (both VEI 5). For this reason and its proximity to large population centres, Mt Teide on Tenerife is designated as one of the ‘decade volcanoes’, one of the most dangerous in the entire world.

The current eruption at La Palma is a Strombolian style VEI 2, mostly effusive with some explosivity.

 

The good news, is that we are also in the firing line straight up the Atlantic and around the Iberian Peninsula.. Although Barnsley is probably safe a tsunami that big would cause serious problems all up the Atlantic coasts.

 

I've been to timanfaya also and up to the crater edge of Vesuvius when I was kid in 1974. Don't know if you can do that anymore. Isn't it the case they now reckon that the bay of Naples is a super volcano of which Vesuvius is a part. I am not an expert in the slightest but always had the impression vulcanology isn't an exact science when it comes to long term prediction or what volcanos will actually do when they erupt.

 

Campi Flagrei is on the other side of Naples and has some suburbs built into its caldera. It has never actually had a super volcanic eruption, but is theoretically capable of it. Vesuvius is a separate volcano and much more famous

 

I think Wales would be buggered. Although they have recorded the occasional tremor, Shakin Stevens has been largely dormant for over a decade. With something like that as a catalyst, he would be Shakin his own tectonic plate in the Rhonda.

 

I knew nothing about volcanoes until I went to Tenerife and now I know even less.
I do however have a fascination with them now and as I said above it is purely as a result of a holiday. Words are not enough to describe that latent majesty.

 

I've been to Tenerife about 4 or 5 times. And every time I've been, I look up at it in awe.

And also worry the entire holiday that it might choose the time I'm there to go off lol

Even down on the sea fronts, you can see clear evidence of past lava flows

 

I've had a Krakatoa curry. The eruption in the bowl was catastrophic.

 

Any cataclysmic event that prevents us playing Cardiff and Swansea again can only be a good thing.

 

Logged on to check if we are still in business. Am in Fuertentura. Am now bricking it big style. Thanks.
Will I see Tina Turner again Friday in the hotel? Though to be honest I'm not convinced it's her .

 

Are you in Corralejo by any chance? If so check out La Tahona restaurant in the old music square. Lupé and Raúl are always great hosts. Not been in 7 years mind so I don’t know if they’re still there!

 

Yes, Corralejo. Tis very nice too. Having another walk to Music square tonight.

 

Tenerife starting up?

 

Please don’t. My parents are going there soon

 

Did you have a proper holiday in La Palma? Worth going? For some reason it doesn’t seem to be travelled to by Brits but seems popular with Germans looking at the departures / arrivals.

I’ve been to Tenerife, Lanzarote & Gran Canaria & hired cars & the roads & scenery are unbelievable.

It’s like been on another planet up Teide & the views of the other islands are out of this world.

 

Rumbles quite a bit Teide, the earthquakes are very small. Also depends on the depths of them. If she clears her throat there will be quite a few warning signs well before time. She's a big old girl and I'm sure will be polite enough to say when she's going to cough her guts up.

 

That’s normal for Tenerife, same every week