Canary hotspot

The Canary hotspot, also called the Canarian hotspot, is a hotspot and volcanically active region centred on the Canary Islands located off the north-western coast of Africa. Theories for this volcanic activity include lithosphere extension permitting melt to rise from the mantle beneath (the plate hypothesis), and a deep mantle plume. Volcanism is believed to have first started about 70 million years ago.[1]

The Canary hotspot is marked 18 on map

Recent activity

From July to September 2011, the Canarian island of El Hierro experienced thousands of small tremors, believed to be the result of magma movements beneath the island. This resulted in fears of an imminent volcanic eruption, which began October 10, 2011, approximately 1 km south of the island in a fissure on the floor of the ocean. Eruptions continued until March 2012.[2]

See also

References
  1. 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, doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.06.007
  2. 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, doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2015.06.007
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.