Volcan El Teide, The Tallest Peak in the Canary Islands 🌋

Teide or Mount Teide is a volcano in Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain. Its peak (3,715 m (12,188 ft)) is Spain’s best factor and the best one above sea stage at the Atlantic islands. At 7,500 m (24,600 ft) tall as measured from the sea floor, Teide Volcano is the third tallest volcano in the world and is described by UNESCO and NASA as the third tallest volcanic structure on Earth.

However, Teide was formed by volcanic activity following a cataclysmic landslide only 170,000 years ago. Hence, the bottom of Teide is actually in Las Cañadas (the remains of an ancient eroded extinct volcano) crater at about 2190 altitude (7190 m) above sea degree. Teide’s elevation above sea degree makes Tenerife the tenth maximum island in the global.

Teide is an active volcano, last erupting at the end of 1909 from the El Chiniero vent on the fault northwest of Santiago. The United Nations Disaster Mitigation Committee has designated Teide a Volcano of the Decade because of its history of devastating eruptions and proximity to several major cities, including Icod de los Vinos, Garachico and Puerto de la Cruz, the closest. Pico Viejo, Teide and Montaña Blanca form Tenerife’s central volcanic complex.

The formation of the island and the current development of Teide Volcano

The stratovolcanoes of Teide and Pico Viejo (Old Peak, actually younger than Teide) and the largest (2058 km2 or 795 sq miles) and tallest (3715 m2) volcanic island, is the new center of activity on Tenerife’s volcanic island of the Canary Islands. It has a complex volcanic history.

Phase 1

Like the other Canary Islands and islands of volcanic origin in general, Tenerife was formed by the accretion of large shield volcanoes, which formed three in a relatively short period of time. This early shield volcanic activity shaped much of Tenerife’s emerging regions. The shield volcano dates to the Miocene and Early Pliocene and is preserved in three isolated, deeply eroded massifs: Anaga (northeast), Teno (northwest), and Roque del Conde (south). Each shield was created in less than 3 million years, and the entire island appears to have been created in about 8 million years.

The second and third phases

The early infancy was followed by periods of explosive lull and erosion lasting 2 to 3 million years. This closure is common in the Canary Islands. For example, La Gomera is currently at this stage. After this period of calm, volcanic activity concentrated on two large structures: the central volcano, Las Cañadas, and the Anaga massif. Las Cañadas Volcanoes formed on top of Miocene shield volcanoes and can be up to 40 km in diameter and reach 4,500 m in height.

Phase four

About 160–220,000 years ago, the summit of the Las Cañadas I volcano collapsed to form the Las Cañadas (Ucanca) caldera. Later, near Guajara, a new Stratovolcano Las Cañadas second formed and collapsed catastrophically. Another volcano, Las Cañadas third, formed in the Diego Hernandez section of the caldera. All Las Cañadas volcanoes have reached maximum heights similar to Teide (sometimes called Las Cañadas IV volcano).

There are two theories for forming the 16 km × 9 km caldera. The first is that the depression results from the volcano’s vertical collapse, as a shallow magma chamber at roughly sea level beneath the Las Cañadas volcano is emptied after a massive explosive eruption. A second theory is that the caldera formed due to a series of lateral gravitational collapses much like those defined in Hawaii. Evidence for the latter principle has been observed in both coastal observations and marine geology research.

Phase five

From around 160,000 years until the modern day, the stratovolcanoes of Teide and Pico Viejo were originally within the Las Cañadas caldera.

Historical eruptions of Teide Volcano

Teide ultimately erupted in 1909 from the El Chinyero vent on Santiago Ridge. Historical volcanic activity on the island includes the eruptions of the Santiago or Northwest Fault (Boca Cangrejo in 1492, Montanas Negras in 1706, Chazzora Narices or del Teide in 1798, and El Chiniero in 1909) and the Cordillera Slaughter.

Alternatively, it is associated with the Northeast Fault (Pasnia). Siete Fuentes in 1704 and Arappo in 1705). The eruption of Montañas Negras in 1706 destroyed the city, the main port of Garachico, and several small towns.

Historical pastimes associated with the Teide and Old Peak stratovolcanoes took place in 1798 at the bow of Teide on the western slope of Old Peak. Erupted material from Old Peak, Mount Teide, and White Mountain partially fills the Las Cañadas caldera. The last explosive eruption involving a central volcanic centre occurred at Montaña Blanca about 2,000 years ago.

The final eruption within the Las Cañadas caldera came about in 1798 from the Narices del Teide or Chahorra (Teide’s Nostrils) at the western flank of Pico Viejo. The eruption came to be predominantly strombolian in fashion and most of the lava changed into. This lava is visible beside the Vilaflor–Chio avenue.

Christopher Columbus reportedly saw “the Great Fire of the Orotava Valley” when sailing past Tenerife in 1492 on his voyage to discover the New World. This was interpreted as an indication that he had witnessed an eruption there. According to the radiometric dating of the lava, there was no eruption in 1492 from the Orotava Valley, but there was an eruption from the Boca Cangreho vent.

The last eruption from the top of Teide occurred around 850 AD, producing the “negras lava” or “black lava” that covered most of the volcano’s slopes. About 150,000 years ago, an even larger explosive eruption occurred, probably with a volcanic activity index of 5.

It lies within Las Cañadas caldera, about 2,000 m above sea level, about 16 km (9.9 miles) to the east and 9 km to the west (5.6 miles) from north to south. On the south side of the shape, at Guajara, the inner walls rise into nearly sheer cliffs between one hundred and 715 m. Teide’s 3,715 m (12,188 ft) peak and its sister stratovolcano, Pico Viejo, are located in the caldera’s northern half and were formed by more recent eruptions than this prehistoric eruption.

The Teide of shadow

Teide casts the world’s largest shadow over the sea. Better sources needed] The shadows cast over 40km from the summit of the mountain, reaching La Gomera at dawn and Gran Canaria at sunset. The shadows are perfectly triangular, but the Teide silhouette is not. This is an aerial perspective effect. Visitors and tourists’ weather to the top of the volcano at sunset to witness the phenomenon.

Mount of the Luna moon

Mons Pico is one of the Montes Tenerife lunar mountain ranges in the inner ring of the Imbrium Sea, named by Johann Hieronymus Schröter after Pico von Tenerife, the name of the 18th-century Teide. There is a brown dwarf in the open Pleiades star cluster called Teide.