Local volcanologists reported that there was increased seismicity at Tenerife in mid-May, according to a news article. The article stated that during several days before 18 May there were "five successive low-intensity earthquakes in the island's most volcanically active zone in the area between Mont Teide and Santiago del Teide." The director of the Estación Vulcanológica de Canarias stated that the earthquakes, which were less than M 2, could be an early sign that something unusual was happening at the volcano.

12 May 2004            Back to Top

Local volcanologists reported that there was increased seismicity at Tenerife in mid-May, according to a news article. The article stated that during several days before 18 May there were "five successive low-intensity earthquakes in the island's most volcanically active zone in the area between Mont Teide and Santiago del Teide." The director of the Estación Vulcanológica de Canarias stated that the earthquakes, which were less than M 2, could be an early sign that something unusual was happening at the volcano.

Sources: Yorkshire Post Today News

Below is a summary of eruption dates and Volcanic Explosivity Indices (VEI).

The following references are the sources used for data regarding this volcano. References are linked directly to our volcano data file. Discussion of another volcano or eruption (sometimes far from the one that is the subject of the manuscript) may produce a citation that is not at all apparent from the title. Additional discussion of data sources can be found under Volcano Data Criteria.

Ablay G J, Ernst G G J, Marti J, Sparks R S J, 1995. The ~2 ka subplinian eruption of Montana Blanca, Tenerife. {Bull Volc}, 57: 337-355

Ablay G J, Marti J, 2000. Stratigraphy, structure, and volcanic evolution of the Pico Teide-Pico Viejo formation, Tenerife, Canary Islands. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 103: 175-208

Ablay G, Hurlimann M, 2000. Evolution of the north flank of Tenerife by recurrent giant landslides. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 103: 135-159

Ancochea E, Fuster J M, Ibarrola E, Cendrero A, Coello J, Hernan F, Cantagrel J M, Jamond C, 1990. Volcanic evolution of the island of Tenerife (Canary Islands) in the light of new K-Ar data. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 44: 231-249

Ancochea E, Huertas M J, Cantagrel J M, Coello J, Fuster J M, Arnaud N, Ibarrola E, 1999. Evolution of the Canadas edifice and its implications for the origin of the Canadas caldera (Tenerife, Canary Islands). {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 88: 177-199

Brown R J, Barry T L, Branney M J, Pringle M S, Bryan S E, 2003. The Quaternary pyroclastic succession of southeast Tenerife, Canary Islands: explosive eruptions, related caldera subsidence, and sector collapse. {Geol Mag}, 140: 265-288

Brown R J, Branney M J, 2004. Event-stratigraphy of a caldera-forming ignimbrite eruption on Tenerife: the 273 ka Poris Formation. {Bull Volc}, 66: 392-416

Bryan S E, 2006. Petrology and geochemistry of the Quaternary caldera-forming, phonolitic Granadilla eruption, Tenerife (Canary Islands). {J Petr}, 47: 1557-1589

Bryan S E, Cas R A F, Marti J, 2000. The 0.57 Ma plinian eruption of the Granadilla Member, Tenerife (Canary Islands): an example of the complexity in eruption dynamics and evolution. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 103: 209-238

Carracedo J C, 1994. The Canary Islands: an example of structural control on the growth of large oceanic-island volcanoes. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 60: 225-241

Carracedo J C, 2006. {El Volcan Teide, Volcanologia, Interpretacion de Paisajes e Itinerarios Comentados}. CajaCanarias, 431 p

Carracedo J C, Paterne M, Guillou H, Perez Torrado F J, Paris R, Rodriguex BAdiola E, Hansen A, 2003. Dataciones radiometreicas (14C y K/Ar) del Teide y el rift noroeste, Tenerife, Islas Canarias. {Estudios Geol Museo Nac Ciencias Nat}, 59: 15-29

Carracedo J C, Rodriguez Badiola E, Guillou H, Paterne M, Scaillet S, Perez Torrado F J, Paris R, Fra-Paleo U, Hansen A, 2007. Eruptive and structural history of Teide volcano and rift zones of Tenerife, Canary Islands. {Geol Soc Amer Bull}, 119: 1027-1051

Carracedo J C, Singer B, Jicha B, Perez Torrado F J, Guillou H, Badiola E R, Paris R, 2010. Pre-Holocene age of Humboldt's 1430 eruption of the Orotava Valley, Tenerife, Canary Islands. {Geol Today}, 26: 101-104

Cas R, Edgar C J, Pittari A, Middleton J, Wolff J, Marti J, Olin P, Nichols H, 2005. Using the stratigraphic record to understand the nature of caldera collapse: the 1.59-present Las Canadas caldera complex, Tenerife, Spain. {Workshop Caldera Volcanism: Analysis, Modelling and Response, Parador de las Canadas, 16-22 October, 2005}, Abs, p 7-8

Coppo N, Schnegg P-A, Heise W, Falco P, Costa R, 2008. Multiple caldera collapses from the shallow electrical resistivity signature of the Las Canadas caldera, Tenerife, Canary Islands. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 170: 153-166

del Potro R, Pinkerton H, Hurlimann M, 2009. An analysis of the morphological, geological and structural features of Teide stratovolcano, Tenerife. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 181: 89-105

Edgar C J, Wolff J A, Nichols H J, Cas R A F, Marti J, 2002. A complex Quaternary ignimbrite-forming phonolitic eruption: the Poris Member of the Diego Hernandez Formation (Tenerife, Canary Islands). {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 118: 99-130

Edgar C J, Wolff J A, Olin P H, Nichols H J, Pittari A, Cas R A F, Reiners P W, Spell T L, Marti J, 2007. The late Quaternary Diego Hernandez Formation, Tenerife: volcanology of a complex cycle of voluminous explosive phonolitic eruptions. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 160: 59-85

Fuster J M, Arana V, Brandle J L, Navarro M, Alonso U, Aparicio A, 1968. {Geologia y Volcanologia de las Islas Canarias - Tenerife}. Madrid: Inst "Lucas Mallada", 218 p

Huertas M J, Arnaud N O, Ancochea E, Cantagrel J M, Fuster J M, 2002. 40Ar/39Ar stratigraphy of pyroclastic units from the Canadas edifice (Tenerife, Canary Islands) and their bearing on the structural evolution. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 115: 351-365

Marti J, Gundmundsson A, 2000. The Las Canadas caldera (Tenerife, Canary Islands): an overlapping collapse caldera generated by magma-chamber migration. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 103: 161-173

Marti J, Mitjavila J, Arana V, 1994. Stratigraphy, structure and geochronology of the Las Canadas caldera (Tenerife, Canary Islands). {Geol Mag}, 131: 715-727

Mitchell N C, Masson D G, Watts A B, Gee M J R, Urgeles R, 2002. The morphology of the submarine flanks of volcanic ocean islands, a comparative study of the Canary and Hawaiian hotspot islands. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 115: 83-107

Mitchell-Thome R C, 1976. {Geology of the Middle Atlantic Islands}. Berlin: Gebruder Borntraeger, 382 p

Neumann van Padang M, Richards A F, Machado F, Bravo T, Baker P E, Le Maitre R W, 1967. Atlantic Ocean. {Catalog of Active Volcanoes of the World and Solfatara Fields}, Rome: IAVCEI, 21: 1-128

Newhall C G, Dzurisin D, 1988. Historical unrest at large calderas of the world. {U S Geol Surv Bull}, 1855: 1108 p, 2 vol

Pittari A, Cas R A F, Marti J, 2005. The occurrence and origin of prominent massive, pumice-rich ignimbrite lobes within the Late Pleistocene Abrigo Ignimbrite, Tenerife, Canary Islands. {J Volc Geotherm Res}, 139: 271-293

Ridley W I, 1971. The field relations of the Canadas volcanoes, Tenerife, Canary Islands. {Bull Volc}, 35: 318-334

Romero C, 1991. {Las Manifestaciones Volcanicas Historicas del Archipielago Canario}. Tenerife: Gobierno de Canarias, 2 vol, 695 & 768 p

Schmincke H-U, Sumita M, 2010. Geological evolution of the Canary Islands. Koblenz: Gorres-Verlag: 188 p

Soriano C, Galindo I, Marti J, Wolff J, 2006. Conduit-vent structures and related proximal deposits in the Las Canadas caldera, Tenerife, Canary Islands. {Bull Volc}, 69: 217-231

Watts A B, Masson D G, 2001. New sonar evidence for recent catastrophic collapses of the north flank of Tenerife, Canary Islands. {Bull Volc}, 63: 8-19

The large triangular island of Tenerife is composed of a complex of overlapping Miocene-to-Quaternary stratovolcanoes that have remained active into historical time. The NE-trending Cordillera Dorsal volcanic massif joins the Las Cañadas volcano on the SW side of Tenerife with older volcanoes, creating the largest volcanic complex of the Canary Islands. Controversy surrounds the formation of the dramatic 10 x 17 km Las Cañadas caldera, which is partially filled by 3715-m-high Teide stratovolcano, the highest peak in the Atlantic Ocean. The origin of the caldera has been variably considered to be due to collapse following multiple major explosive eruptions or as a result of a massive landslide (in a manner similar to the earlier formation of the massive La Orotava and Guimar valleys), or a combination of the two processes. The most recent stage of activity beginning in the late Pleistocene included the construction of the Pico Viejo and Teide edifices. Tenerife was perhaps observed in eruption by Christopher Columbus, and several flank vents on the Canary Island's most active volcano have been active during historical time.