Volcano Erupts On Spain’s Canary Islands Following Earthquake Swarm

September 19, 2021Environment

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The Spanish Canary island of La Palma has experienced a volcanic eruption after a swarm of earthquakes had been recorded in the last week.

Ahead of the eruption, a 3.2-magnitude earthquake was recorded just 300 feet below the surface on Saturday. On Sunday morning, more tremors were felt ahead of the eruption that spewed a large cloud of dust and smoke into the air.

Acaba de ocurrir hace un momento ahora sí.#LaPalma #volcan pic.twitter.com/Ub7QtIDQQl

— Jm (@Jose_Mi86) September 19, 2021

Eruption begins at the Cumbre Vieja volcano in La Palma in Spain’s Canary Islands, following recent seismic activity; evacuations underway https://t.co/49rqQVZ675

— Factal News (@factal) September 19, 2021

BREAKING NEWS ???? +++ Volcanic eruption taking place at this moment in La Palma, Canary Islandspic.twitter.com/OOWsfpFx7h

— ???? alerta ???? (@igandean) September 19, 2021

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The swarm of earthquakes began around the Cumbre Vieja area on Sept. 11. Since then, more than 6,600 small earthquakes have been registered in the area. We first noted the possibility of eruption last Wednesday when the Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands (Involcan) said there’s reason to believe the seismic swarm is due to magma slowly rising to the surface.

Last week, local officials reported a sensor at the volcano took a reading of the “highest Helium-3 levels in 30-years.” The gas is considered a message from the mantel about future volcanic activity.

Cumbre Vieja volcano has been the talk of some wild theories, such as, if the eruption is large enough, it could unleash a megatsunami. Steven Ward first explained this theory in research from the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics, University of California, Santa Cruz, California, two decades ago.