This is one of the few earthquakes that has been registered in the last 24 hours in the deepest areas of La Palma. In fact, in that period only seven earthquakes have been registered more than 20 kilometers away, out of the more than 120 earthquakes reported by the National Geographic Institute (IGN). The rest of the earthquakes are found at depths between 16 and 10 kilometers, which, in the eyes of scientists, is related to a feedback from the system of a magmatic pocket located at that height.
All these seismic movements are directly related to the ongoing eruption in the Cumbre Vieja ridge. and, for the moment, there is nothing to indicate that it could lead to the appearance of an eruptive mouth in an area far from the main cone of the La Palma volcano. Regarding the origin of the earthquakes, scientists have agreed that the usual feeding of the volcano originates from two magmatic reservoirs at different depths. One of them is between 10 and 15 kilometers deep, coinciding with the place from which the magma rose and broke the earth until it emerged towards the surface.
The other magmatic deposit is connected to this, but sleeps between 20 and almost 40 kilometers deep. This magma-filled bag also recharges the volcano’s main outlet conduit. This reservoir is thousands of years old and it is the place where the island began to accumulate magma just a few meters from the earth’s mantle. This hypothesis has its origin in the distribution of earthquakes, which have been found, in general, either in one area or another throughout the eruption, which corroborates that they are seismic movements associated with the feeding of the volcano.
According to the information provided by the Pevolca Scientific Committee, high values of the amplitude of the tremor signal are maintained, with intensification pulses. It should be remembered that the volcanic tremor is the seismic signal that unleashes the activity of active volcanoes that is related to the release of magma when interacting with the eruptive conduit.
María José Blanco, director of the IGN, insisted this Saturday that, with this level of seismicity –which does not seem to have any signs of stopping–, it is likely that earthquakes will continue to occur and reach an intensity of VI. This means that the earthquake will be felt both indoors and outdoors, which could cause some people to lose the building and some slight damage to buildings constructed from brick, stone or block.
Blanco explained that the historical records of seismic activity on the island show that there may have been earthquakes of up to intensity VII and magnitude 5.8. However, he stressed that “we are far from that situation.”
