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Case Study 14

Canary Islands

Volcanic World Heritage of Spain

Malcolm Cooper Geophysical aspects and
Location history of activity
The islands were formed by the Canary hot spot,
The Canary Islands are an autonomous Spanish which first appeared about 60 million years ago
2
archipelago of 7447km , which is located 100km (Holik et al, 1991; although see Cruz, 2001). The
off the north-west coast of mainland Africa, west Teide volcano (Figure CS14.2) on Tenerife is the
of Morocco, and supports a total population of highest mountain in Spain (3718m), and the third
two million. There are seven major islands, one largest volcano on Earth on an ocean island. All
minor island and several small islets. The major the islands except La Gomera have been active in
islands are Tenerife, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote, the last million years; four of them (Lanzarote,
Fuerteventura, La Palma, La Gomera and El Tenerife, La Palma and El Hierro) have historical
Hierro (Figure CS14.1).
records of eruptions since European discovery. In

Figure CS14.1 Map of the Canary Islands
Source: Wikimedia Commons, 2009

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