Sometimes, chance rolls its dice and, by definition, what comes out is unpredictable, but to distinguish reality and coincidence there is science. A good example of this is what happened about a video about a landslide on Teidespecifically on the north face, which yesterday spread like wildfire through social networks, causing logical concern among many Tenerife residents, as it was dated just last Friday, the day on which a formidable swarm of hybrid events was confirmed (not classic earthquakes ) at a depth of about 13 kilometers below Pico Viejo.
But not. One fact (the landslide on Mount Teide) has nothing to do with the other (the earthquakes of recent days), as was made clear both by the National Geographic Institute (IGN) and by the Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands (involcan).
Moreover, it is not difficult to understand that, as they clarify, it is the most normal thing in the world for this type of landslide to occur on slopes as steep as those on the north slope of Teide. Most likely, weather (and corresponding erosion) is behind this fortuitous rockfall.
Reactions after the collapse on Teide
It was the scientific coordinator of Involcan, Nemesio Pérez, who first provided the keys to DIARIO DE AVISOS to understand that there is nothing to be alarmed about.
“This landslide on Teide has nothing to do with what happened due to those hybrid events [unos 450] and it is the most normal thing that happens on a slope like that”, stressed Pérez, who even explained that, in any case, “it is the other way around: because we detect signs of hybrid events [causados por fluidos] such as the one mentioned, earthquakes and also phenomena that have no relation to earthquakes, such as a major rockfall”.
In this regard, it must be taken into account that, adding all the power of what happened last Friday under the surface of Las Cañadas, it barely represents a magnitude 2 earthquake or, what amounts to the same thing, it is not even felt by the population. .
But chance brought with it the entanglement and, as IGN seismologist Itahiza Domínguez explained on Twitter, chance meant that this rockfall last Friday was the first that they have been able to date with complete certainty: “It is something to be expected in an area so steep and showing signs of similar recent events. In addition, we detected it in a couple of seismic stations”, confirmed this specialist.
For his part, the director of the Involcan Volcanic Surveillance Area, Luca D’auria, confirmed the denial: “This is a very common event on the north slope of Teide, especially during the summer. It is mainly related to meteorological factors.”
To make matters worse, it is not even known with certainty if the video in question is from last Friday.
