Geology
The Canarian archipelago is estimated to be 30 million years old, relatively young by geological standards, and of volcanic origin , the result of magma oozing through cracks in the earth's surface. This occurred at a time when a series of mountain ranges, including the Atlas mountains, were being crumpled into shape by movements of the earth's crust, as the African tectonic plate pushed north against Europe. The resulting cracks and fissures created an opportunity for lava to spew forth and ultimately become islands. Like similar so-called hot spots, tectonic activity continues in the region, with a build-up of magma eventually spewing forth after the tectonic plate on which the islands sit, shifts - currently it is moving at a rate of 3cm a year. Less than a tenth of the island mass of Tenerife is above the ocean, the top of Teide around 7000m above the sea-bed proper. Tenerife and La Gomera are among the younger islands in the group. La Gomera is around twenty million years old and was formed on the ocean floor, before being pressed upwards to form an island. The last volcanic activity here took place some 2.8 million years ago and its present landforms are as much the product of erosive forces which have sculpted the island since. Owing to the differing resistance of rock types to erosion, numerous volcanic plugs of harder material have been left standing around the island, now known as Los Roques . Although the mountain ranges on the eastern and western tips of Tenerife (the Anaga and the Teno) are roughly the same age as La Gomera, most of Tenerife is much younger - giving rise to the theory that several separate islands were joined to form Tenerife around six million years ago. A second volcanic period of activity around three million years ago then built the Cumbre Dorsal , the backbone of Tenerife that leads east-west down the centre of the island. The highest point along this section is Las Canadas , now protected as a national park and include the massive volcano Teide . This area is one of the youngest parts of the archipelago and still an active volcanic region. Eruptions have been recorded here several times since written records began in the fifteenth century, but luckily have occurred only in sparsely populated areas, and not without considerable prior warning. The most recent volcanic eruption on Tenerife occured in 1909, although the neighbouring island of La Palma recorded volcanic activity as recently as 1971.
Your Tip for Tenerife
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Tenerife - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Tenerife - visit the main Tenerife forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Tenerife webguide section below! Thanks.
|
