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La Palma volcano (Canary Islands): strong seismic swarm suggests magma intruding at depth

Mon, 13 Sep 2021, 09:31 | BY: T
Locations of recent quakes under La Cumbre Vieja volcano (Canary Islands)
Locations of recent quakes under La Cumbre Vieja volcano (Canary Islands)
A strong earthquake swarm started under the area of La Cumbre Vieja volcano in the southern part of the Island yesterday. So far, more than 350 tremors have been detected, including 14 quakes of magnitudes above 3.0 and 226 quakes between 2.0 and 2.9.
The strongest was a magnitude 3.4 event at 00.46 am local time this morning, which was felt by nearby residents.
Most earthquakes are at shallow depths around 8-12 km, suggesting that new magma is currently intruding into a reservoir under the volcano. Whether or not this might be leading up to new volcanic activity is impossible to say at this stage, as there seem not to be other signs of significant volcanic unrest at this stage. Similar earthquake swarms have occurred in the past as well, most recently in late Dec last year; however back then, the quakes were deeper (at around 30 km depth), which could indicate that magma has now risen higher in the volcano's underground storage systems.
La Cumbre Vieja volcano last erupted in 1971, and it is considered one of the most active volcanoes of the Canary Islands. The situation clearly merits close monitoring.

Previous news

Wed, 8 Sep 2021, 06:00

La Palma volcano (Spain) - Smithsonian / USGS Weekly Volcanic Activity Report for 8 September-14 September 2021 (New Activity / Unrest)

Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN) and Instituto Volcanológico de Canarias (INVOLCAN) reported that a seismic swarm beneath Cumbre Vieja at the S part of La Palma began at 1618 on 11 September and was likely associated with a magmatic intrusion. The swarm intensified in number of events and magnitude, and by 1600 on 12 September a total of 315 earthquakes had been recorded and ranged 8-13 km in depth. The largest event was a M 2.8 (on the Mb_lg scale). ... Read all
Fri, 25 Dec 2020, 16:13

Deep earthquake swarm under La Cumbre volcano, La Palma, Canary Islands

Locations and depth vs time plot of yesterday's quakes under La Palma
A relatively strong earthquake swarm occurred under the La Cumbre volcano on La Palma Island yesterday (24 Dec 2020). ... Read all
Sun, 15 Oct 2017, 22:49

Cumbre Vieja volcano (La Palma, Canary Islands): small earthquake swarms possibly indicating re-awakening of volcanic system

Earthquakes under La Palma Island during Oct 2017
Recently, new seismic activity has started under the Cumbre Vieja volcano, which is the historical active volcano of the island (occupying its southern half). Two small earthquake swarms occurred during 8-9 and 13 Oct under the southern part of the island. ... Read all
La Palma volcano
shield volcano 2426 m
Canary Islands, 28.58°N / -17.84°W
Current status: normal or dormant (1 out of 5) La Palma volcano eruptions:
2021 (Sep - ongoing), 1971, 1949, 1712, 1677-1678, 1646, 1585
Typical eruption style
effusive