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Tenerife volcano, Spain
Teide volcano, the highest point on the island of Tenerife, towers above the scarp of the massive 600,000-year-old Orotava landslide.
The light-colored area on the eastern foot of the volcano is covered by plinian tephra deposits from the Mount Blanca eruption about 2000 years ago.
Tiede was constructed within the dramatic 10 x 17 km wide Las Canadas caldera on the SW side of Tenerife.
The large triangular island is composed of a complex of overlapping stratovolcanoes that have remained active into historical time.
The large triangular island of Tenerife is composed of a complex of overlapping Miocene-to-Quaternary stratovolcanoes that have remained active into historical time.
The NE-trending Cordillera Dorsal volcanic massif joins the Las Canadas volcano on the SW side of Tenerife with older volcanoes, creating the largest volcanic complex of the Canary Islands.
Controversy surrounds the formation of the dramatic 10 x 17 km Las Canadas caldera, which is partially filled by 3715-m-high Teide stratovolcano, the highest peak in the Atlantic Ocean.
The origin of the caldera has been variably considered to be due to collapse following multiple major explosive eruptions or as a result of a massive landslide (in a manner similar to the earlier formation of the massive La Orotava and Guimar valleys), or a combination of the two processes.
The most recent stage of activity beginning in the late Pleistocene included the construction of the Pico Viejo and Teide edifices.
Tenerife was perhaps observed in eruption by Christopher Columbus, and several flank vents on the Canary Island's most active volcano have been active during historical time.
PHOTO SOURCE: Photo by Alexander Belousov (Institute of Volcanology, Kliuchi), courtesy of the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History Global Volcanism Program, used with permission.
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