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Historical and prehistorical volcanic geoheritage in Canary Islands
  • +2
  • Carmen Romero,
  • Nieves Sanchez,
  • Ines Galindo,
  • Esther Martin-Gonzalez,
  • Juana Vegas
Carmen Romero
University of La Laguna
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Nieves Sanchez
Spanish Geological Survey (IGME)

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Ines Galindo
Spanish Geological Survey (IGME)
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Esther Martin-Gonzalez
Natural Sciences Museum
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Juana Vegas
Spanish Geological Survey (IGME)
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Abstract

Canary Islands constitute an active volcanic archipelago. From the time immediately before the Castilian conquest of the islands, 17 volcanic eruptions have occurred: 2 prehispanic and 15 historical, some of them with multiple eruptive vents, affecting the islands of Lanzarote, Tenerife, La Palma and El Hierro. In order to carry out the inventory of geosites for the Canary Islands at a regional scale, it has been applied a methodology consisting of two sequential phases: the first one address the selection of geosites that will be part of the inventory, and the second one deals with the characterization and assessment of the selected geosites. In this methodology, geosites are selected within geological frameworks previously established given their regional significance for Canary Islands. With this aim, 12 geological frameworks representative of the geodiversity of Canary Islands have been identified, which include the essential elements, processes and morphologies of the Canarian geology, covering all stages of construction of the islands as well their geological evolution, including processes, morphologies, fossils and deposits associated both to the volcanism and the external geological agents. The selection of geosites is then constrained and facilitated by its representativeness within each geological framework. One of these 12 geological frameworks corresponds to “Historical and prehistorical volcanism”. The scarce number of volcanic eruptions, their low frequency and their general characteristics –fissure mafic eruptions, low VEI and strombolian eruptive styles- determine an apparent geological homogeneity. Nevertheless, the high variety of processes, morphologies and deposits associated to this framework, their good conservation status, as well as the information from the historical chronicles, have permitted to identify 19 geosites of high scientific value. They highlight the existence of eruptive styles ranging from hawaian to vulcanian, with short phases of water-magma contact, quiet emissions of water or in geysers, phreatomagmatic explosions, etc. These geosites constitute a unique and representative record of the volcanology, geomorphology, tectonics and petrology characterizing the most recent mafic volcanism of the Canarian archipelago.