Volcanoes

La Palma, like the rest of the Canary Islands, is an island of volcanic origin.  With a geological period estimated at two million years, it is one of the youngest in the archipelago.  La Palma arose from a submarine volcano located 4,000 meters below sea level.

The volcano on the island has an elevation of 6,500 meters from the abyssal Atlantic platform, and contains a variety of volcanic rocks.  La Palma Island is the third highest in the world relative to its surface, surpassed in this respect only by Pico (Azores) and Fogo (Cape Verde).

The chain of volcanoes known as the Cumbre Vieja divides the island into two distinct climatic zones.  In the south there are still active volcanoes, the last eruption occurring in 1971.  This happened at the southern tip of the island in the municipality of Fuencaliente.  The eruption came from the volcano Teneguia, which remains in the crosshairs of scientists as it continues to burn.  The northern area is dominated by Caldera, a caldera formed by underwater eruptions and erosion, which emerged to a height of 3,500 meters.

This caldera is the largest crater to have emerged in the world.  The interior of the boiler was emptied in the geological past by a rapid emission of lava through a gap that opened near the Balcon de Taburiente, present in what is today the Ravine of Sorrows.

Traces of this emission of lava can be seen inside the boiler, as these tracks (in the gully walls) are oriented toward the center of the crater and not outwards.  This is because explosive eruptions happened within the crater (as in the eruptions at Mount Saint Helens).  The caldera measures 9 km in diameter, 28 km in circumference and 1,500 m deep.

The Barranco de las Angustias is only accessible on foot.
Peaks ranging in height from 1,700 to 2,400 m in the higher elevations of the island surround it.  The Roque de los Muchachos is 2426 m.  The Observatory Roque de los Muchachos is located on this peak.

Historical eruptions
1470-1492: Burnt Mountain or Volcano Tacande
1585: Volcano Collins in the municipality of El Paso
1646: Martin Volcano or Saint Martin
1677: Volcano Fuencaliente
1712: Volcano El Charco
1949: Volcan San Juan (craters of Peach, Black Hole and Llano del Banco)
1971: Volcano Teneguia

The craters, the fields of ash, and the length of the lava provide the data regarding eruptions.

Volcanic activity is a constant risk.  Although concentrated in the south of the island, there are theories that predict that an eruption could come back to the volatile area west of the island and cause it to drop into the sea.  A 90-year study found that the Cumbre Vieja is full of water, due to the porosity of the stone.  But in reality, the characteristic indicating the explosiveness of a volcano is the temperature of the lava.

If the temperature of the lava is very high, as it usually is at Caldera, the lava has a very liquid consistency.  This lowers the possibility of explosive eruptions and increases the possibility of spills.  Lava spills from either an opening or gap at the top of the crater, or through an opening in the wall