Sleeping volcanoes but not always...
Occupying a pivotal geographical position between Europe and Africa, the Canary Islands lie on the African plate even though they are part of the natural region of Macaronesia, together with Madeira, Cape Verde and the Azores. Due to its insular nature, the Canary Islands territory is very complex. With almost 30 million years, these islands are still a very recent volcanic archipelago, geologically speaking, still active. And perhaps you will have the rare privilege of witnessing one of its episodic awakenings, or discovering the very young Tajogaite Volcano, in La Palma. This island was the last one to suffer a volcanic eruption, on September 19, 2021. It lasted 85 days, the longest in the history of the island and the third in the archipelago. Before that, the island of El Hierro has experienced a submarine volcanic eruption, on October 12, 2011, off the coast of the village of La Restinga. For the previous ones, it was on the volcano of Teneguía, at the southern tip of La Palma that the penultimate eruption took place, in 1971. In 1909 for Tenerife, with the Chinyero volcano, about ten km below Teide and in 1824 in Lanzarote. Weak compared to the devastating eruption that between 1730 and 1736 swallowed under the lava the third of the island in the region of Timanfaya. In terms of older terrestrial volcanic eruptions, El Hierro only experienced one eruption in 1793, that of the volcano of Lomo Negro, in the west of the island. Much older, other eruptions could be dated, approximately, thanks to the testimonies of the Guanches. For Tenerife, three dates have been reported, in 1341, uncertain in 1393-1394, and the third in 1430, in the valley of the Orotava. A carbon 14 analysis of the ashes places in 1480 an eruption of the Tacande volcano, in La Palma.
Over the islands
Lanzarote. It is the most eastern of the archipelago with a recent and still active volcanism. Separated from the island of Fuerteventura, to the south, by the Isla de los Loups and the Strait of La Bocaina, it occupies an area of 845 km², most of which is a field of active volcanoes, with a maximum altitude of 670 meters for the Peñas de Chache, to the north. In total, it has 110 volcanoes, with round curves, because very eroded, mainly located in the National Park of Timanfaya. If it has 191 km of coastline, it is mostly coves, since the entire northern coast has been swallowed up by the lava of Timanfaya. It is at its southern tip that Papagayo is located, its most beautiful white sand beach.
Fuerteventura. It is the most African, but also the most Saharan, with a landscape marked by coastal dunes of golden sand (52 km) that surpass those of Gran Canaria. Most of this 1,690 km² island has dry, uniformly arid hills that give a taste of the Moroccan Atlas or the Mexican sierra, with a few palm trees and cacti omnipresent. Without eruption listed, volcanism is not absent from the landscapes since the vast horizons are often interrupted by small isolated cones, with red and dry slopes. Rather flat in its whole, it culminates at 807 meters in the peninsula of Jandía.
Gran Canaria. It is the third largest island (1,530 km²), behind Tenerife and Fuerteventura. It culminates at 1,949 m at the peak of Las Nieves and forms a circle of almost 50 km in diameter and 235 km in circumference. With, in the center, the mountainous massif of the Cumbre (the summit, the ridge) which descends in regular slopes, cut by deep barrancos (ravines) towards all the coasts. Of volcanic origin, but of ancient formation, this cumbre has probably been inactive for at least 3,000 years. On both sides of this set, the landscapes are contrasted, with a greener north because of the numerous clouds clinging to the mountains and a rather arid and sunny south. Much lower, the southern coasts are home to beautiful natural white sand beaches, including Maspalomas with its protected dune field.
Tenerife. With a surface area of 2,034 km², it is the largest island and the one that hosts the Teide, the highest point in Spain. It is a triangular-shaped mountainous island, which also has the greatest geological complexity. Its central core is occupied by the Cañadas of Teide, large volcanic ravines, and its relief is organized around two other massifs, Anaga-Teno-Adeje and the San Pedro Ridge. The Anaga massif, in the northeast, has deep valleys and communicates with the Pedro Gil ridge via the Vega de La Laguna depression. It has more than 350 km of coastline with more than 225 km of cliffs, the most spectacular of which is that of the Gigantes. Among the 50 km of beaches scattered around the island, 35 km are made of pebbles and gravel. This does not prevent it from sheltering magnificent coves with black sand glittering like jewels in the sun.
La Gomera. It is the island with the roundest shape, entirely occupied by an ancient massif that has not known any volcanic manifestation during the quaternary period. With a surface area of 350 km², it culminates at 1,487 meters in the high Garajonay and is essentially characterized by the depth of its ravines and its coastline made up mainly of cliffs, from 100 to 300 meters. The beaches are almost non-existent except for some very beautiful black sand beaches like the one in Valle Gran Rey, which are sometimes dangerous.
La Palma. After Tenerife, it is the island with the highest peak in the Canary Islands, with the Roque de los Muchachos, which houses one of the most important astronomical observatories in the world. It is also the island that has recorded the most recent volcanic eruptions, the Tajogaite, municipality of El Paso, in 2021 and the Teneguía, in the southern tip, in 1971. With an area of 708 km², it has a long geological history with the oldest massif in the north and a coastline made of numerous cliffs. It is also the most humid and the most wooded of the islands. There are also some black sand beaches and natural pools, called charcos.
El Hierro. It is the most western and also the youngest. With an area of 264 km², it is crossed from east to west by a ridge formed by numerous mountains and culminates at 1,501 meters, at the peak of Malpaso.
