After Iceland, there was La Palma. It could have been the Azores, of course. There are more than just two volcanic archipelagos and islands in our youngest ocean, the Atlantic Ocean. But it was La Palma. Could we have seen it coming? Eruptions at La Palma are about ten times less frequent than at Iceland, perhaps two or three times per century. Still, it would happen eventually. And to put it into perspective, the chances of an eruption in La Palma were much higher than one in Reykjanes.
Image source : Twitter @jonni_walker
The eruption began on Sunday 19 Sept, at 3:12pm, with a small bang. As is common in La Palma eruptions, the dike which had reached close to the surface was contained by the older lava flows above. Eventually the pressure reached breaking point, an explosion occurred which blew out the old lava (the brown clouds), and an opening was made for the new lava to come out. It happened on the west facing slope of the Cumbre Vieja volcano where two fissures formed, each about 200 meters long. At peak there were 11 vents in action but one vent became dominant. (Steam is apparently still rising from other vents though.) A common aspect of La Palma eruptions is that the vents form near the cones of previous eruptions, possibly because the ground there is easier to break through. This eruption too came from an area riddled with previous eruption cones, and the current vent is next to an old cone (now presumably buried). Disastrously, the erupting vent was on a slope above and close to a populated area. The lava is relatively cool and slow flowing, but as of this morning, 390 homes have been lost. A thousand people may now be homeless. A few houses may have been second homes (still a terrible loss – in spite of some comments made, most owners of holiday homes are not rich) but for the large majority the house will be everything those people possessed. We live at the mercy of the earth.
The location of the dominant vent
The ESA emergency satellite mapping service sprang into action. Images of the flows show the location and expansion better than the ground based press ever could. This is not a tourist eruption and we do not have the wealth of images and videos that Iceland has produced. Those are for ‘nice’ volcanoes, not for human disasters.
Copernicus radar images of the lava flows
Eruptions here are not highly explosive. Still, it seems to be evolving towards a bigger bangs. The eruption rate is not too high (perhaps 50 m3/s) and that also is helpful.
How will it continue? Previous eruptions have jumped between different vents at different times and that could happen this time as well. And previous eruptions have lasted between 24 and 84 days – we still have a way to go.
La Palma
The Canary Islands are a group of larger and smaller islands, are volcanic, and are located off the coast of southern Morocco. We know one of them very well from previous activity: the submarine eruption of El Hierro, south of La Palma. Tenerife has the largest volcano and Lanzarote had the longest lasting historical eruption. The entire region remains active. This differs from a conventional hot spot where one may see extinct volcanoes further from the current location of the spot. Here the heat is distributed over a larger area. There is however a bit of a gradient, in that La Palma is still in the shield building phase while islands to the east did that a long time ago. The heat may be slowly migrating west.
Canary Islands. Source: wikipedia
The fifth largest of the Canary Islands, La Palma is mountainous. The roads make for interesting driving as they wind up the sides of the mountains. Seeing upside down cars is not uncommon (on one drive I saw two). One main road goes underneath an active volcano by means of a tunnel: this may be a unicum, but do drive carefully especially when exiting the volcano (where I saw one of those two overturned cars).
From the Digital Terrain Model of the National Geographical Institute of Spain (reduced resolution). Sourced from https://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/island
The mountains form an impressive volcano. The peak is 2430 meters above the sea level but this underestimates the true size of the beast. The base of the volcano is 4 kilometers below sea, making it over 6 kilometers tall. Submarine volcanoes have an advantage as they can grow much steeper and the water helps carry the weight. They grow faster and taller than their aerially exposed counterparts. Still, this is a large one.
La Palma is a complex island with multiple volcanic features. It has history. A history of five volcanoes, in fact, all of which can still be seen on La Palma.
The map above shows that there are two obvious volcanoes. The northern, large one with a hole in its side is called Taburiente, and it is extinct enough that an astronomical observatory has been build on its peak. (Mind you, another one is build on Mauna Loa.) The big hole is called the Caldera de Taburiente. Standing on the top, the Caldera is very steep (I know from experience). The smaller ridge volcano to the south is Cumbre Vieja, and it is clearly not extinct as it is currently erupting. There is a saddle between the two volcanoes called Cumbre Nueva. Cumbre Vieja, in spite of its name, is the younger of the two: the names ‘Vieja’ and ‘Nueva’ refer not to the ages of these ridges but to the forests on them.
La Palma is quite a rainy island (tourists beware: the beauty of the greenery gives a hint), and erosion has carved deep valleys in the sides of the volcanoes. These are locally known as ‘barrancos’. The barrancos on Taburiente are deep and steep (causing difficult and bendy driving here), whilst they are much less prominent on Cumbre Vieja. Cumbra Vieja is young whilst Taburiente is old and weathered, as lined as the faces of the people I once saw going to work in the cold of Novosibirsk.
But there have been volcanoes here before. The steep sides of the Caldera de Taburiente have cut through the layers that make up the volcano. Not all those layers are from Taburiente: some are much older than the current volcano. Even the old can be young, when seen in comparison to those who came before. We so easily forget that no one feels as old as others think they are: we perceive our own age from our memories. But we all are old at heart: our memories give life to people who may have long since passed away. They haven’t really passed on, until all living memory of them has ended. La Palma has kept those memories of the departed, and has brought them to the open. Let’s dive in.
Submarine volcano (unnamed)
The oldest lavas that are exposed in the Caldera formed under water: pillow lavas are seen, interspersed with tuff and sediment. There are also intrusive rocks that formed from magma injection underground, with many dikes running through them. Although all this formed under water, nowadays they are on dry land: the layers were uplifted later to above sea level. In the Caldera they are seen as high as 400 meters above sea level. Some of the lava flows formed in deep water, other in shallow water: the uplift continued while the subsea volcano was active. We normally think of uplift (also called inflation) as coming from growing magma chambers in the crust. That is part of it, but uplift on this scale has a deeper origin. The mantle and lithosphere below are heating up as a hot spot moves underneath. Hotter rock has a lower density and therefore floats higher, like a cork in the bath. Everything above rises too as the heat increases. This is the main process that causes large scale uplift in volcanic regions, and it is also the reason that when the hot spot moves on, the island it created begins to sink. If you live on a volcanic island, a volcano that stops erupting can be as dangerous to your future as one that is actively burying your land.
Exactly when the submarine volcano first began to grow is not well known. The oldest accurately dated lava (using radio isotope dating) formed 1.7 million years ago. But micro fossils embedded in the sediments are older: 3 to 4 million years. This sounds old for a volcano that hasn’t moved much, but it is young for the Canary Islands. Tenerife is at least 7 million years old, and Gran Canarias may be twice that. Unlike Hawai’i, the volcanic activity here does not migrate, but there has been a slow shift in peak activity from east to west. Interestingly, this westward shift (2-3 cm/yr) is similar to the spreading rate of the Atlantic ocean at this location. The area has kept its distance to the mid-ocean rift and perhaps that is where it gets its heat from. The alternative model of a mantle plume has also not been ruled out though.
The submarine volcano began to grow 4 million years and by 1.7 million years ago may have become an island. The orientation of the dikes changed over this time. Originally they ran southwest to northeast, but as the volcano developed a feeder conduit the dikes rotated to a north-northwest to south-southeast orientation, similar to the north-south elongation that we still see in La Palma.
Garafia volcano
The island volcano that now formed is known as the Garafia volcano, and it is considered the second volcano of La Palma. It is named after a village on the north coast of the island. This volcano grew over a period of half a million years, between 1.8 and 1.2million years ago. It reached an impressive size: Garafia reached 23 kilometers across and was at least 2.5 kilometers tall: this was the first shield volcano. It’s lava flows are exposed not only in the Caldera, but also at the bottom of the deepest barrancos all around the current volcano. They are thin pahoehoe flows, with some explosive layers (lapilli). It was a basaltic volcano, typical for a volcanic island.
Around 1.2 million years Garafia came to an end when a large collapse occurred. In a way this was a typical event. Slope failures are common on the western Canary Islands. The most recent one was on El Hierro, 15,000 years ago: it left a scarp 1 kilometer tall. Garafia produced several such land slides which are seen on the ocean floor. It is not clear whether they are all part of the same event or (perhaps more likely) the collapse happened in several different events. One debris flow lies off the east coast and came from somewhere above Santa Cruz. Three debris flows are seen to the southwest. The four events happened between 0.8 an 1.2 million years ago, and together deposited some 650 km3 of debris on the ocean floor.
Taburiente
On the remnant of Garafia a new volcano now began to grow. It was in pretty much the same location but extended a bit further south where the land slides had removed half of the old volcano. Eventually it fully covered both the remnants of Garafia and the older submarine (uplifted) volcano.
The walls of the Caldera the Taburiente showing the older layers. Source: The Geology of La Palma
Taburiente grew for over half a million years, between 1 million and 500,000 years ago. It reached a height of 3 km, and was 25 km in diameter. Like Garafia, it was basaltic in nature. however, during its later years the eruptions became more explosive (never devastating) and the magma became more evolved. At the same time, the eruptions began to move to the south, away from the ancient location. This formed the Cumbre Nueva ridge. By 400,000 years ago the peak was extinct but this ridge continued to be active.
History now repeated itself, as it always does. The peak of Taburiente and the side of the Cumbre Nueva collapsed into the ocean around 500,000 years ago. Compared to Garafia, this was a smaller event. The debris on the ocean floor has a volume of around 100 km3. And whereas Garafia collapsed in what may have been 3 or 4 separate events, a long time apart, Taburiente only had one. The gap it created was not yet the current Caldera de Taburiente. Erosion has deepened and widened the hole since, and also formed an erosion channel at the bottom: the Barrancos de Las Angustias. And there was new growth on the far side.
Bejenado volcano.
The collapse removed a lot of weight from the southwestern part of the edifice. This allowed new volcanic activity, from decompression and from easy access to the surface. A new volcano began to grow. This one is called Bejenado, and it forms the southern wall of the Caldera. (It is interesting and perhaps confusing that the two sides of the Caldera are from different volcanoes and have different ages.) The current Caldera looks nothing like it did after the collapse: it became enclosed only because of this new growth.
Cumbre Vieja
The new volcano filled in part of the newly formed basin. The activity did not last too long. By 150,000 years ago, all eruptions were from a new volcano, Cumbre Vieja. Unlike the previous volcanoes it formed a curved ridge. It may have formed along a radial rift zone of Taburiente, activated by the southward migration of the heat. The ridge continues into the sea, with a range of sea mounts which are equally active as the part on-land. Although Cumbre Vieja is no longer young (it has reached a height of almost 2 km), it never developed an eruptive centre. The eruptions are along the entire ridge, and are monogenetic which each one forming its own rift (normally on the flanks, at a slight angle to the ridge) and cones. Eruptions are strombolian. The lava is basaltic but more evolved lavas (phonolitic, which contain a much higher fraction of silicate) are common. (The current eruption was reported to produce tephrite, a slightly evolved version of basalt.) This volcano is very different from any of the previous four. Why that is is not clear.
On the west side the ridge has a steep edge, with a coastal platform where much of the banana plantations are. The cliff is caused by sea erosion; the platform has build up from later eruptions.
Historical eruptions occurred in 1585 (84 days), 1646 (80 days), 1677 (66 days), 1712 (56 days), 1949 (38 days) and 1971 (25 days). There is no pattern to the either the frequency or location: this volcano is all over the place. There is however a pattern of decreasing length, as if it lived of a previously formed magma reservoir – we will see whether this hold his time (in which case the eruption will be over by mid October) or not (in which case it could last until December)! There was also an eruption in the late 1400’s, around or just before the time of the Spanish settlement in 1493, but we have no historical record of this.
Events high up tend to be explosive and vents lower on the flanks tend to be effusive – this seems to hold for the current eruption as well. Eruptions often occur near older phonolitic cones. For instance, the 1677 eruption was in San Antonio volcano (a tall cone) but this cone already existed before that time.
La Palma is a fascinating place. It showcases its history well. But it is not a ‘nice’ volcano. Eruptions occur over a long area, and any one location sees lava only rarely. This encourages settlement of regions that are never safe. La Palma’s eruptions are slow and they give people time to leave. This is no Taal. But they are also destructive, as we see now. In a few months time the eruption will be over and the volcano will go to sleep for decades or centuries. But it will take people affected by the eruption a long time to recover. Those memories will not go away
Albert, September 2021
This post is almost entirely based on ‘The Geology of La Palma’ by Valentin Troll and Juan Carlos Carracedo, published as a chapter in the book The Geology of the Canary Islands’ (2001).
To end this post, I am reproducing a very useful overview made on Dec 21 by VC commenter Oliver:
To keep the overview, here is a summary of the previous events and facts of the eruption on La Palma:
– The eruption began on 09/19/2021 at 3:12 pm (local time) on the lower western flank of the “Cumbre Vieja” in the area of the “Cabeza de Vaca” and just above the first houses of the village “El Paraiso”.
– Two eruptive fissures developed, each approx. 200 m long and running in a north-north/westerly direction. On the evening of September 19th, up to 11 vents were active at the same time. This released lava fountains that were several hundred meters high. The VAAC detected volcanic ash at an altitude of 3000 m. There were also some lightning.
– The released lava was relatively viscous and cold (approx. 1075 ° C) and steep cinder cones quickly developed around the active chimneys. An Aa lava flow was formed, the front of which was initially up to 15 m high, but later mostly reached a thickness of up to 6 m.
– The lava flow crossed the LP-212 road, moved at about 700 m per hour in a westerly direction into the area just north of “Monte Rajada” and grazed the center of the village of “El Paraiso”, but already destroyed numerous houses.
– On September 20, the lava flow moved further west along the “Camino el Pastelero” street and destroyed other buildings in the process. However, the flow was getting slower and slower. Since there are numerous cisterns and small canals in the area (for the the banana plantations on the coast), there were also some phreatic explosions and the generation of steam fountains, which also led to false reports about the opening of new vents in this area.
– The seismic activity decreased significantly after the eruption started.
– On 09/20/20201, eruptive activity was concentrated in a vent that had developed at the northern end of the eruptive fissure. The largest cinder cone had developed there as a result of ongoing Strombolian activity.
– On the evening of September 20, new vents opened about 900 m below (northwest) of the main cone (below the LP-212 road) at around 9:30 p.m. At the same time there was an earthquake with a magnitude of 3.8. At least three effusive vents were active. They showed wild spattering and released less viscous lava than before. This led to the evacuation of parts of the village “Tacande”.
– The new vents produced a second lava flow. This moved in a west to south-west direction and was observed on September 21 south of the industrial area “Punto Limpio”, where it came relatively close to the main lava flow or even united with it.
– On the morning of 09/21/2021, the front of the main lava flow was just north of the center of the village “Todoque” and moved very slow. There were 183 houses destroyed and 106 acres of land covered with lava. 6000 people were evacuated.
– The sulfur dioxide emissions were determined on September 21, 2021 at 10,000 tons per day and had increased compared to the previous day (approx. 7,000 tons).
– On the afternoon of 09/21/2021, the tremor, which had decreased slightly after the onset of the eruption, increased significantly and remained high in the evening.
– The GPS stations in the west / southwest of the island recorded a further uplift of the area on September 21, 2021 despite the ongoing eruption. Overall, a maximum lift of 25 centimeters was determined.
– On the evening of September 21, the main vent produced sustained strombolian explosions or generated a lava fountain. The height of the fountain was roughly estimated by observers at 400 – 500 m.
– On the evening of 09/21/2021 at around 8:00 p.m. (local time), a new vent that had developed on the western flank of the main cone was visible. There were individual strombolian explosions there, as well as the release of a viscous lava flow. The front of this flow was moving in a westerly direction.
– On the evening of 09/21/2021, the main stream came closer and closer to the center of “Todoque” and threatened to block the important LP 213 road. This leads down to the coast to the towns of “Puerto Naos” and “La Bombilla”, which have already been evacuated, as well as the Hotel “Sol” near the beach of Puerto Naos, where 500 tourists were.
I have compiled this information from various websites and this blog. Main sources:
https://news.la-palma-aktuell.de
https://emergency.copernicus.eu
This summary is certainly not complete and is not free from errors. But I hope it helps to keep track of the events.
Oliver
RE:”The questions on the 2022 Earth Sciences/Volcanology Final Exam just write themselves.”
Is there an additional question for extra credit or points for originality, clarity, and aptness of thought?
Thanks for the update Albert. Very useful in the current situation!
Click on Luis’s twitter video and copy/paste to a new tab, should have sound.
Right at the end there are chunks of rock landing on the closer ridge with the dead trees.
Wonder how far that is?
No That wasn’t it, get off this site.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/RTVCconLaPalma?src=hashtag_click
Scroll down a bit.
Great article Albert, be very interesting to see how long the eruption does last as to compare with previous La Palma eruptions.No doubt the locals want it end here and now,which is understandable.
To Carl and others I miss you. Hope it’s not because Albert can usually just say it anyway. Hey, Albert is usually 90-95% right and I like that. But the most interesting bits are when he isn’t and I hope he thinks that as well 🙂
If other things detaining you I still hope you can come back soon.
Delete if inappropriate.
Better add in case of confusion I am talking about future projections – for which 90-95% is really good in my book. I’m not criticising Albert in the slightest (I want more). Just my random number. Not based on facts. Don’t ask for stats 🙂
But I do miss Carl.
Carl is still around. But he is a very busy person these days.
And I doubt that I reach 90% prediction accuracy..
Around 02:50 a second lava flow starts from the lower (Hawaiian rather than Strombolian) vent, left of the existing one.
I concur- but can’t make out where’s the vent -is it there? Or around the main vent?
Tremor alredy is at Max.
Black smoke beginning to come from 2nd vent pushing around the bright yellow fluid lava time: 4:33 am
I believe that this is a camera defect in the camera software causing a false appearance of a black substance or smoke around the hot lava, due to the contrast between light and dark. I looked at another camera shot and no such black substance could be found.
The lava vent looks pretty serious now, back when it began it was only a little fountain and stuff was caving into it, but now the fountain is as tall as the outer edges of its crater. It is not entirely degassed evidently, so perhaps not a direct parasitic vent of the main cone but branched off a bit deeper down.
I would like to know how far this lava has flowed by now, after almost half a day. It is obviously not in the ocean yet or we would know but it must be making some significant progress, it flows very fast down that slope near the vent, looks a lot like the lava flowing down the pali on Kilauea.
Chad I take it that this new fluid stream will have too travel along rather than over the current original lave flow.
From what I can tell the new vent is not actually new but a part of the original fissure that reactivated, that might be why the lava still fountains a bit. The new lava is probably moving along the north edge of the first flow, at least based on where it is that is the most likely flow path. Unfortunately that side is bordered by some confining terrain so it will be channeled right in to Todoque again.
So I guess either I made a wrong assumption there or it has not got that far yet.
Cheers that makes sense mate.
About 5 mins ago 5:27 am a parallel stream of lava appeared next to the bright active stream but up higher on the dark slope
Which camera could you see this on?
I’ve been watching it on en.as.com-Spanish mob-Erupcion volcan La Palma en directo- currently showing close-up view of the vent/s.
Just saw the camera now focus closer to the vent,yeap well Spotted! Starting to remind me of our friend in Iceland.
Flow increasing slowly as now a second rivelet has started to come down the same channel and the parallel flow has picked up a bit again 5:43am
Is the cone caving in? 5:55 am
All I can say there appears to be a saddle now-is that new?
The saddle is slowly sinking, so the vents are eroding the cone bit by bit.
Does look like possibly the whole right side is slowly sliding down, might be a consequence of the more fluid lava. Teneguia was rifted apart when it began erupting fluid lava too, and the small lava vents also became bigger craters even without having tall fountains. Maybe not all of the strombolian craters we see on cones like these are actually eruptive in nature but could be erosion from lava flowing out of a flank vent and taking the cone with it.
Would expect to see some more vents open between the two existing now, probably all lava vents.
It does seem that the lava vent is actually starting to fountain a lot now too
The cone is definitely slumping to yhe 2nd vent and the saddle is deepening but I see new flows starting up over to the far right and I wish the camera would refocus to a larger view 6:45 am
It looks like that is the cone crumbling, exposing the glowing interior. A bit like an aa flow.
I hope the cone does not slide but the spurts of lava to the right are getting bigger
I see sudden popup spurts over to the far right making me wonder how stable this cone is?
About as stable as a kid on crack, I’d say.
I sure would keep a safe distance from it.
definitely very fluid lava now, the flank vent collapsed and rushed down at high speed with no dust.
What do you think will happen when the saddle completely crumbles and the vents join?
Depends on if the vents are actually joined at shallow depth, it looks like the effusive vent is an original from the first day reactivated, so could be separate further down. I guess we might see lava flow over the saddle though, if there is lava erupting at the lower vent it is erupting at the main one too just so is most of the gas.
You might not want to be down wind from it.
Or even down-slope from it either.
Still looks rather Etna and Pacaya when they are fluid
But perhaps getting to San Juan territory soon
Is the Aa flows more active now
When more lava is comming out? I guess the rubbly behemoths will start To move again ..
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uKALLDUMHN0
Lava is getting more fluid now ..
But its still in Pacaya effusive territory
Perhaps 1120 C now .. ?
Its very low in sillica this Alkaline stuff too
What is your method of estimating the lava’s temperature?
Do you spectrally estimate from the camera pictures?
The cam viewing on a boiling vent- can’t tell which one- it seems to ramp up a notch!
Yes .. and looks kind of alot like
”Etnas own Hawaiian Style” even if its more Viscous lava than Hawaii
Souch fluid spattering is common at start of Etna paroxysms
Is the bottom half of the cone slipping down the slope?
Can be seen on this live feed.
Cheers that helps alot.
That would make a great time lapse collection if anyone had the time…
Boy O boy there’s a serious fluid lava flow going on-more stress for the locals.
There are very few earthquakes now according to IGN. Is that because the conduit is now open like in Iceland?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjv1kzzmyvU
The new lava when it began, showing where it is going.
Excellent work! Thought it would have gone further- not as fluid as I thought!
This is right when it began, within a few minutes. The front of these lava flows is always more viscous than the start, and also here it was a mix of lava with solid stuff from the cone as it collapsed, it was more like a landslide that had lava in it than a fresh lava flow.
Later videos show the lava flowing and it is only slightly less than in Hawaii or Iceland, very fluid and a lot hotter and faster than the stuff from a few days ago. It seems maybe it has stopped now, but the vent isnt in view so might still be going, hard to tell. I expect it didnt get past the end of the flow field or it would be on the news but it must have gone some distance for sure. Maybe it did even go further, and no one wants to fil more houses being destroyed especially the live video.
All the last quakes are deep ones… the volcanic sistem is getting recharged…
2.4 mbLg
NE FUENCALIENTE DE LA PALMA.IL
2021/09/25 07:16:15
13
+info
2.6 mbLg
N FUENCALIENTE DE LA PALMA.ILP
2021/09/25 05:22:11
12
+info
2.8 mbLg
N FUENCALIENTE DE LA PALMA.ILP
2021/09/25 01:42:31
11
+info
2.7 mbLg
N FUENCALIENTE DE LA PALMA.ILP
2021/09/24 23:48:26
http://www.ign.es/web/resources/volcanologia/tproximos/canarias.html?fbclid=IwAR3GEqfr-AJg4p18QS_fWpPmSxss6-_xwEAQJjv-33JqoKCac_KxSOqQ0A8
Taken from ign.es, found this quite interesting:
The area with the highest seismic activity in the Canary Islands, not directly related to volcanic activity, is located in the channel between the islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife. In this zone a continuous amount of earthquakes is concentrated located since seismic instrumentation is deployed. Nowadays there are about 400-500 earthquakes per year in this zone, of which between 5 and 7 are of magnitude bigger than 2.5. The seismicity is produced at depths between 0 and 40 km. It was in this area where one of the biggest earthquakes in the Canary Islands occurred during the last 50 years, on May 9, 1989 with a magnitude of 5.2 and which was widely felt in the islands of Tenerife and Gran Canaria (Mezcua et al., 1992).
On the ocean floor between Tenerife and Gran Canaria there are large extensions of mobilized “debris” deposits that cover part of the ocean floor. Of the various prehistoric landslides described on the southern coast of the island of Tenerife, the Güimar landslide (2,600 km2), which occurred some 800,000 years ago, stands out. The depression that remains on the slope is between 9 and 12 km wide and has large lateral (up to 300 m) and headland escarpments, and within it are the landslide deposits that did not reach the sea, interspersed with new historical and subhistoric eruptions. Its headwaters coincide with the Cordillera Dorsal, the main rift zone of the island, with a NE direction, and maximum heights of 1700-2200 m.
Wonder if Enmedio is the next Canary Island in the making?
The origin of this seismicity is still under discussion today. The zone coincides with the existence of a prominent underwater volcano known as Volcán de En medio, whose last eruption has an unknown date, although the first studies of the 1989 earthquake ruled out the volcanic origin of this seismicity (Mezcua et al., 1992). Recently, Blanco-Montenegro et al. (2018) propose the presence of faults, although closer to the island of Gran Canaria and finally Barbero et al. (2018) have discovered the existence of a relative movement of approximation between the two islands due to a hydrostatic adjustment of Tenerife and that could explain the existence of this seismicity.
Volcan en Medio. Volcano in the middle.
Should probably have guessed that but the options at school were French or German!
It’s interesting that it’s popped up in the middle of the 2 largest volcanic centres, will take a million years before it reaches the surface though.
Thank you very much for your follow-up, Albert.
It is both well written and explained to non-volcanologists 🙂
This paper published at Nature.com is really worth reading. It is about a study about the onset of the current Palma eruption and it says that the reactivation started in 2009or even earlier, but was not detected until 2020. It’s a story that reminds us that doing empirical science comes with trial and error and yields advancing insights. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-82292-3#Abs1
The active vents seem to be moving downhill towards the lava eruption. Good view of the “bombs” against the blue sky.
Definitely venting downslope
Just arriving this morning (UK time – takes me a while on my crutches…lol).
Looking at the video am I right in assuming the main vent is still blowing, and a new vent downslope is also venting at an angle and vigorously? That angle is unfortunate.
Yes Clive that new vent has been there for at least an hour according to what I have seen.
Would it have failed the Mull of Kintyre test then?
looking at a live video it is now focussing on an area much further downslope. I seriously hope this is noy another new vent. Things are getting frenetic enough.
A new source of emission appears in the La Palma volcano
The Pevolca authorities will give a press conference at 2:00 p.m. to report on the evolution of the volcanic eruption
NOTICES DIARY09/25/2021 · UPDATED 12:57
Mename
A new source of emission appears in the La Palma volcano. Involves
The Canary Islands Volcanological Institute has confirmed this Saturday, on its Twitter account, the opening of a new emission focus at the Cumbre Vieja volcano, on La Palma, which erupted last Sunday. This new opening has appeared “further west of the main focus,” says Involcan.
The Technical Director of the Special Plan for Civil Protection and Emergency Assistance for Volcanic Risk (PEVOLCA), Miguel Ángel Morcuende, and the director of the National Geographic Institute (IGN) in the Canary Islands,
María José Blanco, will appear before the media to report on the evolution of the volcanic eruption on La Palma from 2:00 p.m.
https://diariodeavisos.elespanol.com/2021/09/aparece-un-nuevo-foco-de-emision-en-el-volcan-de-la-palma/?utm_source=webpushr&utm_medium=push&utm_campaign=578403
Thanks Jan. answers my question about the area I was watching for so long.
https://twitter.com/involcan/status/1441730815096881152
A new emission vent has opened at the west of the principal one
There is something I don’t really understand..
This report: https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/novarupta/news/142358/Novarupta-Volcano-Volcanic-Ash-Advisory-RESIDUAL-VA-FROM-KARYMSKY-ERUPTION-0130Z0924-to-5000-ft-1500.html
RESIDUAL VA FROM KARYMSKY ERUPTION?
What does that mean. I know Karymsky is a Kamchatkan volcano (and VA is volcanic ash), but why are they specifically mentioning Novarupta? Is it about the ash from the 1912 eruption? And if so, what has Karymsky to do with it?
This was not volcanic, this was by wind mobilization of Novarupta ash.
Yep. It’s 1912 ash caught up by the wind which has caused the Novarupta reference. That’s quite a regular occurrence. It’s kind of the wind equivalent of a secondary lahar. Remember that due to the high latitude and comparatively high altitude there is essentially no plant growth over much of the ash field from 1912. That bit which didn’t become welded tuff is therefore still pretty much as mobile as it was back then.
Not sure if this has been posted yet, but great video of explosions and shock waves.
https://youtu.be/NFTz5VWX0r8
Some impressive shockwaves there. I think the clip with multiple vents going off in rapid succession is from Stromboli though.
Thanks for posting that. The footage toward the end looked like it was taken from someone’s back yard when the eruption had just started. Fascinating.
Is the lava flows moving again now
When the Fountains seems to be more vigorous?
What looks to be the second lower vent is throwing up jets almost as high as the main vent now. Lets hope this calms down soon for these people.
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=p0KRg8CiJag#searching
Big Fountains now from the vent
https://twitter.com/involcan/status/1441716962032189441
Evolution of seismicity located by the Canary Islands Seismic Network under the island of La Palma in the last 2 weeks
https://twitter.com/IGNSpain/status/1441774822200053762
3 earthquakes of magnitude greater than 2.2 since 12 UTC yesterday
Volcanic Tremor has reached the highest values in the last 24 h
Stability in deformations
We continue to monitor the activity
The trend of these deeper quakes is back towards where they originally started and about 11 km deep or so. More magma to come?
Drone video of lava flows
https://twitter.com/112canarias/status/1441780262946418689
Luis you are always one step ahead of me 🙂
Lol! Your video is biger… but there are two videos on my link…
Looks alot like Etnas channel lava flows probaly is same viscosity
The lava flows are on the move again then .. feeding the Aa flows downhill
Cumbre Vieja reminds me of Etna, too. Basaltic, strombolian, lots and lots of mouths at various elevations all over the mountain.
Drone footage.
https://www.facebook.com/IAEcanarias/videos/992470348271515/
Thermical image of eruption and new lava flow
https://twitter.com/ita_dc/status/1441793858354958341
The jets are causing the odd flicker of lightning (at 17:42 and earlier Ultimo hora YT). The pressure being released is enormous!
Been busy, Albert… just got to reading this…
i find Your writing almost poetic and You make me ‘feel’ like i was on the rim looking down with You.
i’ll savor the rest later…. stuff calls. But already You get a Gold Star!
Longtime lurker. 20:29 CET. On https://youtu.be/vHNZh_YjpC8 go back43 minutes. From this moment, I think a new vent opens in the main cone side. Later on it increases in size and lava flow is visible
[Welcome, long time lurker! Our guard dog Akismet tends to hold first ever comments until one of us release them. There you are! /–Lugh]
https://twitter.com/involcan/status/1441832973213519878
But its not stopping right?
Is the mountain deflating or just constant?
Yes its a terrible destruction
My Neighburs previous summerhouses been taken by the lava flows ..
But I still wants To see an ocean entry
And we will see If Aa lava can make land better than Pahoehoe can.
Its still going strong on webcams
Here you find data on that, Jasper: http://www.ign.es/web/resources/volcanologia/html/PA_serie_DEF_20210911.html
Looks like a new fissure opened up below the main cone. It’s not just a lava flow. It is beginning to fountain.
Very visible
https://twitter.com/IGeociencias/status/1441837082490642433
This afternoon in a press conference, Mr Marcuende said that they were not sure yet is was a new vent or the reopening of one that closed after the initial eruption.
Well whichever. It is there and spewing lava.
Incredible live stream!
Things getting a bit wild now with all 3 vents, and activity picking up 8:17 pm – deep low jet engine sound from the vents
That little vent with the flowing lava keeps getting smothered and then making a comeback.
Does anyone have any idea why the newer fountaining vent keeps shooting out at an angle rather than upwards? Seems a strange behaviour and I cannot begin to understand what would cause that.
That the lava tube is rather horizontal?
Thanks for the reply. That I had not thought of.
Wow!! So destructive for the people on that island. It’s a good thing the lava has so far moved slowly so they can get out of the way. Property can be replaced but lives cannot. This however doesn’t look like it is moving very slowly but everyone knows it’s coming by now.
Is that heap down from the vents a landslip? Has the cone slumped and made that pile of debris? I’m guessing it has.
Thanks for bringing us the video!
I came here to post the same video, but you beat me to it. It is outstanding.
Looks like a flow going to the north and to the south.
Here is another summary of what happened at La Palma over the past few days (all times are local):
– Since 22/09/21 the main cone which is located at its northern end of the eruptive fissure, has increased significantly in height. In addition, it has assumed a horseshoe shape that is open to the southwest.
– The vent in the main cone has been producing lava fountains over the past few days that were up to 500 m high. In addition, there were repeated violent detonations that hurled large glowing bombs far into the vicinity of the ventt. The detonations made doors and windows vibrate several kilometers away and did not let many people sleep.
– As a result of the violent explosive activity, ash rose up to 4500 m height. Winds carried the ash clouds to various regions of the island and caused ash rain there. Most of the ashes fell in the vicinity of the chimney and this resulted on September 24th. to further evacuations, as it was feared that the ashes could cause roofs to collapse. The international airport, which is located in the east of the island, was also closed that day.
– The main lava flow, which had reached the center of Todque on the morning of September 23, made little progress that day. It crossed the main road LP 213 at the roundabout and entered a building under construction. On September 24th it came to a standstill and the church of Todoque and its neighboring buildings have so far been spared.
– On September 22nd, a new lava flow started south of the previous main flow, flowed just south of the old cone of the “Montana Rajada” and on September 23rd moved towards the old cone “Montana Cogote”, but passed it to the north and thus spared the Las Manchas cemetery. Then it flowed further west and destroyed on the evening of September 23rd. houses in the area southwest of the village “El Paraiso” (area “Camino Campitos” or “Camino Aniceto”) and reached the southern border of the main stream. On September 25th, this stream had moved only a little further west.
– The balance sheet on September 24th: 420 buildings have been destroyed, 191 hectares of land are covered with lava, 15 km of roads have been destroyed.
– The authorities set a no-fly zone in the area of the eruption area, and only state aircraft are allowed to move there. This ban also applies to private drones, which have so far been the only source for evacuated people to get an idea of the lava flows and possibly even photos of their homes. Not knowing whether their house has already been destroyed or not has upset these people very much.
– On September 24th a new vent opened on the northwest flank of the main cone around 2:15 p.m. This vent was initially explosive but soon went into the extraction of lava. Later a second effusive vent opened and the two narrow lava flows merged and moved down the western flank. At the base of the cone, however, they took a southerly course. The northern of the two new vents became more and more active in the evening and ate a large hole in the main cone. Large blocks of already solidified lava were transported with the lava flow and small glowing avalanches developed. The flowrate now increased significantly. The lava was less viscous than the lav previously erupted. The lava flow met the main flow north of the “Montana Rajada” and moved west along its northern edge. This lava reached on 25/09. the area around the street “Camino la Vinagrera” southwest of the industrial area “Punto Limpio” and destroyed some buildings during its progress.
– Since the authorities feared a collapse of the main cone due to the new vent, they ordered on 24/09/21 further evacuations in the Tacande area.
– On the morning of the 25/09/21 the explosive activity of the main cone shifted a little further to the south, which was noticeable in additional lava fountains or strombolian explosions. At the same time, effusive activity at the vent on the northwest flank decreased.
– On September 25th around 1:00 p.m. another new vent was reported, which opened further west of the main cone.
– On the evening of September 25th the vent in the north-western flank became significantly more active again from around 6:30 p.m. There was strong slag throwing and the release of a new lava flow that seemed to follow the path of its predecessor. At the same time, the main vent and at least 2 or 3 vents just south oft it produced lava fontains.
– The tremor increased at noon on September 24th. further and was still at very high level on 09/25. The seismic activity however, remained low, but under the Cumbre Vieja some new quakes showed up on September 24th and 25th a depth of approx. 10 – 13 km. The uplift/deformation of the area in the west / southwest of La Palma remained unchanged or even decreased slightly.
– The volcano still doesn’t have an official name. A historian has now suggested the name “Tacande”, which comes from the language of the native people of the island and means something like “burned place”. At the same time, the town of “Tacande” is not far from the new volcano.
I have compiled this information from various websites, this blog and own observation on live video streams. Main sources:
– https://www.eltime.es
– https://news.la-palma-aktuell.de
– http://www.vulkane.net
– https://emergency.copernicus.eu
– http://www.ign.es
This summary is certainly not complete or free from errors.
Well done! Lots of information. Thank you.
Great summary I would add that link to the list, as they have some of the best drone videos from the vents
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBXTmq9ryRBL3NhJwRGJ3jg
New explosive phase just started…
https://twitter.com/VolcansCanarias/status/1441859897533112320
https://twitter.com/RTVCes/status/1441859109796470787
Damn.. Its not letting up at all. Those lava fountains are tremendous. The view from a distance really shows the scale of it.
This was a really breathtaking and very wild strombolian show, uff.
Source of the screenshot: Youtube live stream of TV La Palma.
seems that whenever the little vent is clogged the eruption becomes a bit more explosive
Spotted a weird blue flash within the lava fountain, lasts three frames, rises quickly upward and gone… unfortunately my internet keeps dropping and I lost the place in the live stream so can’t find it now to screen shot it.
lightning is occurring in this volcanic eruption. yesterday evening I saw a flash or two.
I’ve figured during the more explosive spells that the material exiting the vent has to be at least approaching the sound barrier if not exceeding it.. I mean it’s like watching TNT go off. Doubt that has anything to do with blue flashes, but who knows? Sonoluminescence or some analog?
I thought I saw that last night. Regarded it as a camera anomaly but it could have been lightning. From reports we’ve been seeing this eruption is generating a large cumulus cloud above it.
And its certainly not unexpected in a volcanic eruption. Sakurajima is famous for it.
$500 and $1000 drones with optics capabilities filmmakers would have killed for in 1990 have made present day volcanoes the movie stars they should have been all along. Quantum leap stuff.