The Canary hotspot, also called the Canarian hotspot, is a hotspot and volcanically active region centred on the

Canary Islands The Canary Islands (; ) or Canaries are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean and the southernmost Autonomous communities of Spain, Autonomous Community of Spain. They are located in the northwest of Africa, with the closest point to the cont ...

located off the north-western coast of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent after Asia. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 20% of Earth's land area and 6% of its total surfac ...

. Hypotheses for this volcanic activity include a deep

mantle plume A mantle plume is a proposed mechanism of convection within the Earth's mantle, hypothesized to explain anomalous volcanism. Because the plume head partially melts on reaching shallow depths, a plume is often invoked as the cause of volcanic ho ...

beginning about 70 million years ago. The underwater El Hierro and subaerial

Cumbre Vieja The Cumbre Vieja (; meaning "Old Summit") is an active Complex volcano, volcanic ridge on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain. The spine of Cumbre Vieja trends in an approximate north–south direction, comprising the southern ha ...

eruptions remain the most recent Canarian eruptions. Carracedo, J.C.; Troll, V.R.; Zaczek, K.; Rodríguez-González, A.; Soler, V.; Deegan, F.M. (2015) ''The 2011–2012 submarine eruption off El Hierro, Canary Islands: New lessons in oceanic island growth and volcanic crisis management'', Earth-Science Reviews, volume 150, pages 168–200,

Formation

The deep

hypothesis on Canary hotspot formation proposes how the current-day Canary islands rested above a province of tholeiitic magma during the

Triassic Period The Triassic ( ; sometimes symbolized 🝈) is a geologic period and system which spans 50.5 million years from the end of the Permian Period 251.902 million years ago ( Mya), to the beginning of the Jurassic Period 201.4 Mya. The Triassic is the ...

. The province, known as the

Central Atlantic Magmatic Province The Central Atlantic magmatic province (CAMP) is the Earth's largest continental large igneous province, covering an area of roughly 11 million km2. It is composed mainly of basalt that formed before Pangaea broke up in the Mesozoic Era, near the ...

(CAMP), became active and extended over 10 million km², developing into what scientists call today the

Mid-Atlantic Ridge The Mid-Atlantic Ridge is a mid-ocean ridge (a Divergent boundary, divergent or constructive Plate tectonics, plate boundary) located along the floor of the Atlantic Ocean, and part of the List of longest mountain chains on Earth, longest mountai ...

. The archipelago formed about 60 million years ago from a magma source. The African Plate then shifted the plate the archipelago rests on over a stationary mantle plume. However, this hypothesis has been scrutinized for periods of up to several million years of a lack of volcanic activity between islands.

Recent activity

El Hierro eruption

From July to September 2011, the Canarian

island An island or isle is a piece of land, distinct from a continent, completely surrounded by water. There are continental islands, which were formed by being split from a continent by plate tectonics, and oceanic islands, which have never been ...

of El Hierro experienced thousands of small tremors, believed to be the result of

magma Magma () is the molten or semi-molten natural material from which all igneous rocks are formed. Magma (sometimes colloquially but incorrectly referred to as ''lava'') is found beneath the surface of the Earth, and evidence of magmatism has also ...

movements beneath the island. This resulted in fears of an imminent

volcanic eruption A volcanic eruption occurs when material is expelled from a volcanic vent or fissure. Several types of volcanic eruptions have been distinguished by volcanologists. These are often named after famous volcanoes where that type of behavior h ...

, which began October 10, 2011, approximately 1 km south of the island in a

fissure A fissure is a long, narrow crack opening along the surface of Earth. The term is derived from the Latin word , which means 'cleft' or 'crack'. Fissures emerge in Earth's crust, on ice sheets and glaciers, and on volcanoes. Ground fissure A ...

on the ocean floor. Eruptions continued until March 2012.

Cumbre Vieja eruption

Prior to the

eruption on the island of

La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and historically San Miguel de La Palma, is the most northwesterly island of the Canary Islands, a Spanish autonomous community and archipelago in Macaronesia in the North Atlantic Ocean. La Pa ...

on September 20, 2021, over 25,000 earthquakes were recorded starting on September 10. Since the 1971 Teneguía eruption, the volcano has remained very active, as since October 2017 until the 2021 eruption alone, nine earthquake swarms occurred. As a result of the Cumbre Vieja eruption, over 5,000 of the island’s inhabitants had to evacuate, significantly decreasing casualties. Still, more than 1300 homes and 1500 utility buildings were damaged and continuous magma flow stalled repair efforts for weeks.

References

Hotspots of the Atlantic Ocean Volcanism of the Canary Islands {{volcanology-stub

Formation

Recent activity

El Hierro eruption

Cumbre Vieja eruption

See also

References