The Canarian Seismic Network, which operates the Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands (Involcan), has registered this Tuesday, from 05:50 a.m., a new seismic swarm of very low magnitude under Teide, specifically, to the southwest of Pico Viejo. According to the institute, the most likely origin of this episode is hydric, that is, it would correspond to movements of fluids such as steam, gas or water inside the volcano’s hydrothermal system. “This swarm does not imply a higher probability of an eruption,” they add.
Up to 9:00 a.m. (Canarian time) up to 350 low-magnitude earthquakes had been identified, and after 12:00 p.m. there were already more than 630, according to Involcan. “This seismic swarm has characteristics very similar to the swarms that were recorded in Tenerife on October 2, 2016, June 14, 2019 and June 10, 2022,” concludes Involcan.
So far (09:00 Canary Islands time) at least 350 small seismic events have been identified.
This seismic swarm has very similar characteristics to the swarms that were recorded in Tenerife on October 2, 2016, June 14, 2019 and June 10, 2022.— INVOLCAN (@involcan) July 12, 2022
Informative update on the seismic swarm on Teide (12:30 p.m., Canary Islands time): The seismic swarm of hybrid events that we have been registering since 05:50 a.m. (Canary Islands time) today, July 12, 2022, already has more of 630 events of small magnitude. pic.twitter.com/4V32RLW4O8
— INVOLCAN (@involcan) July 12, 2022
With this there are already two similar episodes in less than a month. On June 17, in just four hours, some 450 low-magnitude tremors occurred in the vicinity of the Teide National Park, southwest of Pico Viejo, in Tenerife.
The IGN was able to locate 13 of them, the largest, but most had intensities between 0.1 and 1.6 mbLg maximum, and their epicenters were located at depths of a maximum of 20 kilometers and a minimum of six. IGN experts told this newspaper that a possible volcanic eruption could be ruled out, since the intensity was very low. In fact, the sum of all the tremors that morning did not add up to 2 mbLg of intensity.
Likewise, the IGN specifies that series of this type have been recorded on numerous occasions in the area, the first antecedent being the signals recorded in 1980 in the microseismicity campaign carried out in Las Cañadas and which demonstrated that this type of activity could be recurrent.
As indicated, the high detectability of the Canary Islands Seismic Network of the IGN currently allows detecting and locating this activity, related to processes within the Teide-Pico Viejo complex.
The analyzed activity indicates a readjustment of pressures in the lower part of the crust, due to the volcanic nature of the insular building and the magmatic processes in depth, details the IGN.
This type of activity, he adds, is to be expected on active volcanic islands, and may remain at that depth or may give rise to shallower seismic activity in the future, without this pointing to an eruptive process in the near future.
In addition, he comments that the activity in all these series begins with the recording of a long-duration signal, without defined seismic phases, and with high frequency content, subsequently giving way to a long series of hundreds of events of small and similar magnitude, that occur at almost regular intervals of time, in the form of “drum beats”.
