The Island of La Palma continues to be a concern of seismologists and its population. In recent days there have been several tremors and earthquakes, the strongest reaching a magnitude 3.5 on the Richter scale , which have revealed that the volcanic activity under the island’s soil has been reactivated, to the point of beginning to evacuate residents in the Cumbre Vieja area, but how many volcanoes are there on La Palma?
How many volcanoes are there on La Palma?
The island of La Palma is the largest of the two westernmost islands of the Canary archipelago. Symbol of great natural beauty, in it we can find many green landscapes, but also darker areas that reveal how it was formed (like the rest of the Canary Islands) as a result of underwater volcanic eruptions more than two million years ago, with the presence of three volcanoes that apparently were much larger than those present today. Despite this, they are still a latent “threat” as we have seen in recent days.
Caldera de Taburiente
According to the opinion of geologists, the largest of the three volcanoes was located in the north of La Palma and was extinct a long time ago. So much so that air and water have formed the imposing lava of the Caldera de Taburiente from more than 3,500 meters above sea level.
For this reason, we now find a gigantic crater whose rim has an impressive size of nine kilometers in diameter and is considered the largest erosion crater in the world. Its walls are impressive. This is where we find the Roque de Los Muchachos which forms the highest pillar of these volcanic ruins at 2,426 meters (for no other reason it houses the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory), followed by the Pico de La Cruz with 2,351 meters and the Pico de La Nieve with 2,232 meters.
From then on from these craters, waterfalls, pine forests, plants and a wide variety of animals, what is now known as the Caldera de Taburiente National Park has been formed, a famous destination for hikers on La Palma.
A place that houses the most famous path in the caldera, which is the “Barranco de Las Angustias” in which the indigenous peoples of La Palma taught the Spanish conquerors what fear was. Today, hikers walk here safely from Dos Aguas to Tazacorte, but only when it is dry. When it rains heavily, a raging river may flow through the Barranco.
New Summit and Old Summit
Then we have Cumbre Nueva and Cumbre Vieja and this last area is the one that is taking center stage these days, after almost 3,000 earthquakes were detected while what is known as a “seismic swarm” was taking place.
The Cumbre Vieja National Park runs from the center of the island to the south, and encompasses 6 municipalities. The entire area is made up of a series of volcanoes, among which are the San Antonio volcano, the San Juan volcano and the Teneguía volcano, the last of which starred in the last volcanic eruption that was recorded in Spain, in 1971.
But not only do we have these volcanoes, but also the craters and lava flows of the volcanoes of Tacande (which had an eruption in 1470), Tihuya (in 1585), Martín (1646), Fuencaliente (1677) and El Charco ( 1712).
Finally, there are the Duraznero and Hoyo Negro, which give rise to the famous “sea of clouds” that make up unique views that also attract a lot of tourists, while Cumbre Nueva , for its part, has no activity although it is also included in the famous “Route of the Volcanoes” of La Palma.
