A huge volcano may destroy the resorts of Tenerife, which was hit by 112 earthquakes in just one day | world | News

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More than 150 earthquakes have been detected near Tenerife’s Teide volcano since June 11, with 112 occurring in just the 24 hours between July 5 at 1 a.m. and July 6 at 4 a.m., according to the National Geographic Institute. Residents and others living around the area became concerned about the future of the volcano. Since June 11, 40 additional earthquakes have been detected.

The most recent earthquakes were detected between 40 and 50 kilometers underground. This latest update comes after magma reservoirs were discovered less than 5 kilometers below the surface several months ago, where researchers from the Canary Islands, Russia and Grenada noticed that basaltic magma had cooled underground.

This causes a change in the chemical composition which leads to an “explosive” type of magma, the researchers called this “startling” new data.

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About 400 earthquakes were recorded in June last year, which led to the status of “permanent observation” by the research group INVOLCAN based in the Canary Islands. Express.co.uk spoke to Coventry University professor Matthew Blackett, who explained the cause of the tremors.

“It’s still a very active volcano,” he said. “That means there’s an active magma chamber underneath the island.”

He went on to say that it is the movement of magma in these chambers that causes the small seismic tremors that occur near the volcano.

“Think of when you touch a pipe with water flowing through it. You can feel a vague vibration,” he added. He explained that this is similar to the underground activity that takes place at TED.

Teide has similar characteristics to Vesuvius and Etna, which have both suffered devastating volcanic eruptions in the past. Teide has erupted 13 times in the past two thousand years, the last time in 1909. Although it lasted for 10 days and scattered rock fragments over a distance of 20 km and ash for about 130 km, there were no direct casualties.

Professor Matthew Blackett also explained what damage could be done if the volcano erupted today. Professor Blackett added: “If the Teide volcano erupts, it could have a huge impact.”

“One of the characteristics of TED is that where the lava flows from is inconsistent, so it would be difficult to know which areas would be affected.”

Matthew went on to say that “if the flows were coming from the north facing slopes, they could flow towards the coast and affect many of the towns and resorts there”.

However, he said there are “few” indications of an eruption anytime soon.

There are contradictory views on whether increased activity in the past few decades could lead to an eruption, but findings published in the 2006 journal Eos stated that ‘the recent volcanic record provides a somewhat optimistic view of the major volcanic hazards related to the Teide and its fault zones’. .

The magazine went on to say that the eruption poses only very local threats to the 1 million residents of Tenerife and the 4.5 million annual visitors to Teide National Park.

Volcanologist and professor of geosciences at the University of Oxford David Pyle spoke to the Daily Express and, like Matthew, said there was nothing to worry about, saying the threat level was ‘currently very small’.

He said: “This was a very small swarm of very small earthquakes, deep underground. It suggests that very small amounts of magma may be moving at a depth of 40-50 kilometers below the Teide. This is not unexpected.”

He went on to say that “there is no indication that the volcano is about to erupt.”

Despite this, many residents of the surrounding area are on guard about the potential threat this volcano could pose to them.

Teide isn’t the only volcano showing such warning signs. Recently, the Campi Flegrei volcano in southern Italy was observed to have become ‘more likely’ to erupt, according to research from the journal Communications Earth and Environment.

A volcanic eruption from Campi Flegrei is likely to plunge the planet into a global winter and threaten the 500,000 citizens who live nearby, largely in the port city of Pozzuoli.

Additional reporting by Maria Ortega.

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