Volcanic eruption on La Palma
SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE, Sep 19 (EUROPA PRESS) –
The scientific coordinator of the Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands (Involcan), Nemesio Pérez, has acknowledged that the eruption that occurred this afternoon on the island of La Palma has caught them “a bit of surprise” because it has occurred “faster” than what they expected, and has indicated that it may be terminated when several days have passed without SO2 emissions.
In statements to Televisión Canaria, collected by Europa Press, Nemesio Pérez explained that it is a low intensity fissure eruption, like all historical eruptions in the Archipelago, and has clarified that although they knew that the probability of experiencing an eruptive phase was much older than yesterday, they had the uncertainty of when.
Nemesio Pérez has detailed that the eruption has occurred in an area a little northwest of what they called ‘ground zero’, a radius of 2 kilometers where the maximum accumulated deformation had been recorded. Likewise, he indicated that studies of diffuse CO2 emissions from the Institute itself coincide very well with where these fissure eruptions originated.
The scientist recalls that all the eruptions that have occurred in the Archipelago are fissures, that is, fissures that emerge in the earth’s crust, sometimes several kilometers long. In this case, the first fissure that has opened is about 250 meters and there is a second fissure further south, probably of similar dimensions.
It is along these two fissures that magmatic material (lava, gases, pyroclasts, etc.) has begun to emerge and the most predominant emission point will be where the main volcanic cone, so characteristic of the landscape of the Canary Archipelago, will form. .
Regarding the amount of magma that may rise to the surface, Nemesio Pérez has indicated that both pyroclasts and lavas will have to be analyzed to obtain information on this phenomenon. At the same time, how much sulfur dioxide emits this eruption will be monitored, and when there are one, two or three days where there are no emissions, the eruption can be considered finished.
