Cumbre Vieja La Palma

The Cumbre Vieja is a natural park located on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain. It covers all the center-south of the island, extending to 6 municipalities.
The park was created under Law 12/1987 of 19th June, Declaration of Canary Island Natural Areas, as two separate spaces, the Cumbre Vieja and Teneguia and the natural landscape of national interest Martín Volcano Coladas. Both were united by Act 12/1994 of 19th December but Teneguia’s Volcanoes forma separate protected area. The park is also an ecologically sensitive area.

The park was created to preserve the cones and lava flows of different eruptions which occurred in the area as the Cumbre Vieja volcano from the prehistoric to the latest Volcano, Teneguia in 1971.

There are also large forest masses of laurel and pine forest in the park. The park is crossed from north to south along a trail called Ruta de los Volcanes. It is popularly inaccessible to wheeled vehicles and is a great ride that goes through all major cones and offers a breathtaking view of them and the island and other neighboring islands.

In 2000 the British scientist Simon Day led a controversial research project that resulted in a BBC documentary in which he predicted the collapse of the island after a future eruption in the domains of this nature reserve, with a consequent slip for much of Sea Island that would result in a Mega tsunami that could wipe the entire east coast of the USA.

Thus destroying cities like New York, Washington or Miami. The chances of this happening in the near future are remote, as currently the volcano remains active but dormant without eruptive activity. Also it would have to be a very specific type of eruption, a freatomagmatica, and taking into account the reduced size of the aquifer on the island, this is unlikely.

This type of landslide has taken place in the Canary Islands several times throughout history, including the island of La Palma, which is what led to the Caldera de Taburiente. However, these landslides occurred thousands of years and therefore are not documented, although their effects can still be seen.