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The Canary Islands: the archipelago’s turbulent past and present
The archipelago off the coast of Africa emerged from the water, but owes its existence solely to the element of fire.
The Canary Islands are the work of volcanism from beginning to end. You won’t find a single piece of rock of any origin other than magma, although of course you’ll also find wind-blown sands and ash, or modern organic sediment deposited in the muddy basins and valleys. Generally speaking, however, all of the islands, and there are seven of the larger ones in the archipelago, were formed from solidified lava, which turned into hard black rock when it reached the surface of the Earth’s crust. This took tens of millions of years. At first the volcanoes were undersea mountains rising from the ocean floor, but as they steadily grew, eventually during another episode of intense eruptions one by one they pierced the mirror of the Atlantic water and became islands. Thus, on the map we find Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Palma, El Hierro, Gran Canaria, Tenerife and La Gomera.
Islands on a heat spot
On Earth there is no shortage of zones of intense volcanism with thousands of cones. But their…
