Assessment and Modelling of Lava Flow Hazard on Lanzarote (Canary Islands)

This paper presents an evaluation of the lava flowhazard on Lanzarote (Canary Islands) by means of aprobabilistic maximum slope model. This model assumesthat the topography plays the major role indetermining the path that a lava flow will follow. Thearea selected for containing future emission centreshas been chosen taking into account thecharacteristics of the recent eruptive activity andthe present activity of the island. The results of thesimulations constitute hazard maps whose values ateach point represent the probability of being coveredby lava. These results are qualitatively analysed toprovide some indication of the risk to the lifelines(electricity, drinking water etc.) of the island.     

Using a genetic algorithm for 3-D inversion of gravity data in Fuerteventura (Canary Islands)

The use of genetic algorithms in geophysical inverse problems is a relatively recent development and offers many advantages in dealing with the non-linearity inherent in such applications. We have implemented a genetic algorithm to efficiently invert a set of gravity data. Employing several fixed density contrasts, this algorithm determines the geometry of the sources of the anomaly gravity field in a 3-D context. The genetic algorithms, based on Darwins theory of evolution, seek the optimum solution from an initial population of models, working with a set of parameters by means of modifications in successive iterations or generations. This searching method traditionally consists of three operators (selection, crossover and mutation) acting on each generation, but we have added a further one, which smoothes the obtained models. In this way, we have designed an efficient inversion gravity method, confirmed by both a synthetic example and a real data set from the island of Fuerteventura. In the latter case, we identify crustal structures related to the origin and evolution of the island. The results show a clear correlation between the sources of gravity field in the model and the three volcanic complexes recognized in Fuerteventura by other geological studies.     

Conditions favouring catastrophic landslides on Tenerife (Canary Islands)

Catastrophic failures of volcano flanks represent one of the most hazardous geological phenomena. These immense mass movements originate either by increasing the destabilizing forces (driving forces) or by reducing the strength of the materials involved, or both. The study of large volcanic landslides on Tenerife suggests that the presence of weak residual soils (palaeosols) in combination with the pre-existence of deep, narrow canyons created by fluvial erosion, have played a fundamental role in the initiation of large-scale sector collapses of the volcanic edifice, regardless of the triggering mechanism considered. Residual soils strongly reduce the material strength during undrained loading, while pre-existing canyons control the lateral limits of the landslide. The existence of a wet climate in some sectors of the island favours these circumstances.     

New data (U–Pb, K–Ar) on the geochronology of the alkaline-carbonatitic association of Fuerteventura, Canary Islands, Spain

Zircons from a nepheline-syenite of the Fuerteventura Basal Complex were dated by Laser Ablation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS). The age obtained from a total of 21 U–Th–Pb analyses is 25.4 ± 0.3 Ma (2σ) indicating a late Oligocene–early Miocene crystallization. This age is consistent with new K–Ar ages on nepheline-syenites and pyroxenites, and contradicts previously published ³⁹Ar–⁴⁰Ar (feldspar) ages that were interpreted to represent a late Cretaceous–early Paleocene, pyroxenitic–syenitic magmatic episode. These new geochronological data are consistent with both field observations and most of the previously published ages on alkaline silicate rocks and associated carbonatites of Fuerteventura. Therefore, they strongly support the existence of a single, late Oligocene–early Miocene event of alkaline–carbonatitic magmatism in the Basal Complex of Fuerteventura, taking place at approximately 25 Ma and comprising: alkaline-pyroxenites, melteigites-ijolites, nepheline-syenites and carbonatites, as well as their volcanic equivalents and associated dykes.

These new data provide an estimate for the length of time that it took the island to grow, thus eliminating one of the major problems in explaining its development by a hot-spot model.     

Crustal contamination and fluid/rock interaction in the carbonatites of Fuerteventura (Canary Islands, Spain): a C, O, H isotope study

Fuerteventura—the second largest of the Canary Islands consists of Mesozoic sediments, submarine volcanic rocks, dike swarms and plutons of the Basal Complex, and younger subaerial basaltic and trachytic series. Carbonatites are found in two Basal Complex exposures: the Betancuria Massif in the central part of the island and the Esquinzo area in the north. values of the carbonatites increase progressively from south to north of the island. This phenomenon is attributed to different degrees of assimilation of sedimentary carbonate. Homogeneous, typically magmatic values for carbonatites which have preserved primary igneous textures and minerals suggest a well-mixed reservoir where changes in values result from the storage of carbonate magmas at different structural levels. The magma storage allowed assimilation of sediment to varying degrees before final emplacement of carbonatites. Shifts in towards more positive and negative values from presumed primary compositions are observed in the carbonatites. On the basis of the oxygen isotope compositions of calcite, mica and K-feldspar, and the hydrogen isotope compositions of micas, the changes in the values of the carbonatites can be related to fluid/rock interactions.     

Comparative analysis of continuous radon sensors in underground environments

Four different continuous radon (²²²Rn)-detection systems have been compared in underground environments, namely three subhorizontal tunnels excavated for groundwater exploitation. Within observational uncertainties, all sensors detected the same concentrations of radon in the air of the tunnels, regardless of the methodology used to measure this radioactive gas. In this sense, the choice of continuous long-term radon monitoring sensors in underground tunnels is constrained by factors such as robustness of the instrumentation, power supply and cost, rather than the sensitivity of the detection methodology. This is particularly important for the monitoring of radon in the context of seismo-volcanic surveillance, where the harsh environmental conditions of the monitoring sites and the absence of electrical power supply are key factors to take into account.     

An experimental study on the shallow-level migmatization of ferrogabbros from the Fuerteventura Basal Complex, Canary Islands

Spectacular shallow-level migmatization of ferrogabbroic rocks occurs in a metamorphic contact aureole of a gabbroic pluton of the Tierra Mala massif (TM) on Fuerteventura (Canary Islands). In order to improve our knowledge of the low pressure melting behavior of gabbroic rocks and to constrain the conditions of migmatization of the TM gabbros, we performed partial melting experiments on a natural ferrogabbro, which is assumed as protolith of the migmatites. The experiments were performed in an internally heated pressure vessel (IHPV) at 200 MPa, 930–1150 °C at relatively oxidizing conditions. Distinct amounts of water were added to the charge.

From 930 to 1000 °C, the observed experimental phases are plagioclase (An_60–70), clinopyroxene, amphibole (titanian magnesiohastingsites), two Fe–Ti oxides, and a basaltic, K-poor melt. Above 1000 °C, amphibole is no longer stable. The first melts are very rich in normative plagioclase (>70 wt.%). This indicates that at the beginning of partial melting plagioclase is the major phase which is consumed to produce melt. In the experiments, plagioclase is stable up to high temperatures (1060 °C) showing increasing An content with temperature. This is not compatible with the natural migmatites, in which An-rich plagioclase is absent in the melanosomes, while amphibole is stable. Our results show that the partial melting of the natural rocks cannot be regarded as an “in-situ” process that occurred in a closed system. Considerable amounts of alkalis probably transported by water-rich fluids, derived from the mafic pluton underplating the TM gabbro, were necessary to drive the melting reaction out of the stability range of plagioclase. A partial melting experiment with a migmatite gabbro showing typical “in-situ” textures as starting material supports this assumption.

Crystallization experiments performed at 1000 °C on a glass of the fused ferrogabbro with different water contents added to the charge show that generally high water activities could be achieved (crystallization of amphibole), independently of the bulk water content, even in a system with very low initial bulk water content (0.3 wt.%). Increasing water contents produce plagioclase richer in An, reduces the modal proportion of plagioclase in the crystallizing assemblage and extends the melt fraction. High melt fractions of >30 wt.% could only be observed in systems with high bulk water contents (>2 wt.%). This indicates that the migmatites were generated under water-rich conditions (probably water-saturated), since those migmatites, which are characterized as “in-situ” formations, show generally high amounts of leucosomes (>30 wt.%).     

Stratigraphy, Chronology, and Paleoenvironmental Reconstruction of the Quaternary Sedimentary Infilling of a Volcanic Tube in Fuerteventura, Canary Islands

La Cueva del Llano is a volcanic tube of Pleistocene age on Fuerteventura Island, in the Canary Islands. Part of it is infilled with sediments of external origin. These deposits are exceptional in stratigraphic complexity and thickness compared with other known tube infillings, and they comprise nine stratigraphic units deposited in five phases. In Phase I, which has not been dated, sedimentation of cinder from a nearby cone occurred. Phase II began ca. 16,830 ± 900 ¹⁴C yr B.P., whereas phase IV dates to 9280 ± 370 ¹⁴C yr B.P. The interpretation of sedimentary features shows that phases III and V correspond to a dry climate, similar to the present one, whereas the climate was much wetter during phases II and IV. This paleoclimatic sequence agrees with those suggested by the study of deposits formed in other sedimentary environments, not only in Fuerteventura but on other islands of the Canary group and the Sud-Maroc region.     

Pleistocene–Holocene environmental change in the Canary Archipelago as inferred from the stable isotope composition of land snail shells

The isotopic composition of land snail shells was analyzed to investigate environmental changes in the eastern Canary Islands (28–29°N) over the last ~ 50 ka. Shell δ¹³C values range from −8.9‰ to 3.8‰. At various times during the glacial interval (~ 15 to ~ 50 ka), moving average shell δ¹³C values were 3‰ higher than today, suggesting a larger proportion of C₄ plants at those periods. Shell δ¹⁸O values range from −1.9‰ to 4.5‰, with moving average δ¹⁸O values exhibiting a noisy but long-term increase from 0.1‰ at ~ 50 ka to 1.6–1.8‰ during the LGM (~ 15–22 ka). Subsequently, the moving average δ¹⁸O values range from 0.0‰ at ~ 12 ka to 0.9‰ at present. Calculations using a published snail flux balance model for δ¹⁸O, constrained by regional temperatures and ocean δ¹⁸O values, suggest that relative humidity at the times of snail activity fluctuated but exhibited a long-term decline over the last ~ 50 ka, eventually resulting in the current semiarid conditions of the eastern Canary Islands (consistent with the aridification process in the nearby Sahara). Thus, low-latitude oceanic island land snail shells may be isotopic archives of glacial to interglacial and tropical/subtropical environmental change.     

Flow processes and sediment deformation in the Canary Debris Flow on the NW African Continental Rise

The Canary Debris Flow formed an extensive deposit on the NW African Continental Margin west of the Canary Islands. Sidescan sonar images and 3.5-kHz profiles show that the middle part of the debris flow deposit consists of complex channel systems separated by banks and ridges of debris. Channels are typically up to 10 km wide and 10 to 20 m deep, and have little or no debris fill. They appear to feed a more laterally continuous debris flow sheet which is seen further downslope. Interchannel banks and ridges are composed of 5 to 20 m thick debris deposits. This morphology is remarkably similar to that seen in subaerial debris flows, and we therefore infer that the observed submarine debris flow morphology is a primary flow fabric, rather than the result of the debris flow interacting with or exploiting pre-existing channels. High-resolution Sidescan sonar images show that the debris flow surface is covered by sediment blocks up to 300 m in diameter. A single core collected from the flow shows that most of the 4.6-m flow thickness at the core site is composed of a single clast. The clast has been folded, with its upper part consisting of an inverted minor image of the lower part. The same sequence occurs again, in situ, beneath the debris flow, suggesting that the clast may have a local source, rather than having been derived from the debris flow source area, some 200 km upslope. This indicates that the debris flow was capable of substantial seabed erosion in the middle part of its course. In these middle reaches, erosion within the channelled areas probably occurred simultaneously with deposition in the interchannel areas. Interchannel deposits may contain both locally derived and original source area material.     

Emergent littoral deposits in the eastern Canary Islands

K-Ar ages (A. Abdel-Monem, P. D. Watkins, and P. W. Gast, 1971, American Journal of Science271, 490–521; this paper) and revised paleontological determinations (J. Meco, 1977, “Los Strombus neogenos y cuatenarios del Atlantico euroafricano”, Las Palmas, Ediciones del Excmo. Cabildo Insular de Gran Canaria) show that “Quaternary” (R. Crofts, 1967, Quaternaria 9, 247–260; G. Lecointre, K. J. Tinkler, and G. Richards, 1967, Academy of Natural Science of Philadelphia Proceedings119, 325–344) littoral deposits on Lanzarote and Fuerteventura are early Pliocene and late Pleistocene. Early and middle Pleistocene strand lines are not represented. Early Pliocene littoral and marine deposits contain a characteristic fossil assemblage: Strombus coronatus, Nerità emiliana, Gryphaea virleti, Patella cf. intermedia, and Rothpletzia rudista. Differences in elevation record differential post-Pliocene uplift of the coastal platforms on which they lie. Late Pleistocene beach deposits at low elevations belong to two groups, an older with Strombus bubonius and a younger without. Differences in elevation of early Pliocene littoral deposits are reflected by differences in elevation of late Pleistocene beach deposits nearby.     

Cooling rate variation in natural volcanic glasses from Tenerife,Canary Islands

 Silicate melts form glasses in a variety of geological environments. The relaxation (equilibration) of the frozen glass structure provides a means of investigating the quench rates of natural glasses, and this cooling history provides an important constraint for models of melt dynamics. Phonolite glasses from the central volcanic edifice of Tenerife, Canary Islands indicate a range of five orders of magnitude cooling rate, determined by modeling the relaxation of the structure-dependent property, enthalpy (H) across the glass transition. The relaxation of enthalpy is determined by heat capacity (c _p = ΔH/ΔT) measurement of natural glass samples by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Upon heating, the heat capacity curve in the vicinity of the glass transition has a geometry characteristic of the previous cooling rate. A series of thermal treatments applied to each individual sample results in a set of sample-specific parameters which are used to model the heat capacity curve of the naturally cooled glass. The cooling rate is then derived. The equivalence of shear and enthalpic relaxation enables the relaxation of enthalpy for these volcanic samples to be described by a general term for the evolution of fictive temperature. Quench rates for thirty-one glasses are calculated to be within the range 10°C s^–1 to 7°C per day. The cooling rates quoted are linear approximations across the glass transition. Within different volcanic facies cooling rates depend on several factors. The most rapidly cooled glasses occur where samples lose heat by radiation from the surface. Our analyses indicate that in certain environments, a natural annealing process results in slow quench rates. This is interpreted as either a slow initial cooling process or the reheating of a glass to an annealing temperature within the glass transition interval. The latter results in relaxation to a lower temperature structure. Controls on these processes include the initial temperature and dissipation of thermal energy from the volcanic body. Our results are consistent with an influence of volatiles on quench rates in volcanic bombs where glass adjacent to vesicular layers is relatively rapidly quenched. We interpret this as a rapid quench rate frozen into the glass resulting from a change in viscosity due to volatile degassing. In lava flows, the conduction of heat from the hot flow interior controls the cooling process and diminishes the effect of volatile exsolution. Relaxation geospeedometry can be applied to glass samples from a variety of geological environments where cooling rates cannot be measured directly. Such measurements provide a means of determining cooling rates for a variety of volcanic processes, an independent calibration for existing temperature and time data and a means for testing cooling-rate-dependent models. Received: 9 January 1996 / Accepted: 13 May 1996     

Kinematic model for Tenerife Island (Canary Islands,Spain): Geodynamic interpretation in the Nubian plate context

Establishment of a geodetic network in Tenerife is the starting point for the use of GPS and other precise geodetic techniques in the support of the study of kinematics and their relation with island volcanic activity. This paper is focused on the characterization of volcanotectonic activity of Tenerife, to determine the geodynamic framework for volcanic surveillance.TEGETEIDE network, set up in 2005 and re-observed each year, is composed of seven GNSS–GPS stations scattered throughout the island. A horizontal deformation model is presented in order to explain the observed island displacement pattern in the geodynamic context of the Nubian plate.According to the models obtained, the most important geologic structures, such as the volcanic rifts and the caldera, determine the current deformation pattern of Tenerife. The geodynamics of the most stable areas of the island behave similarly to that observed from the permanent GNSS–GPS reference stations located in La Palma and Gran Canaria Islands.Anomalous geodynamic behaviour has been detected in two zones of Tenerife, which configure an NW–SE axis crossing the central sector of the island, related with the volcanotectonic activity of the island and its surroundings.     

Petrology and Geochemistry of the Bandas del Sur Formation, Las Canadas Edifice, Tenerife (Canary Islands)

The Bandas del Sur Formation preserves a Quaternary extra-calderarecord of central phonolitic explosive volcanism of the LasCañadas volcano at Tenerife. Volcanic rocks are bimodalin composition, being predominantly phonolitic pyroclastic deposits,several eruptions of which resulted in summit caldera collapse,alkali basaltic lavas erupted from many fissures around theflanks. For the pyroclastic deposits, there is a broad rangeof pumice glass compositions from phonotephrite to phonolite.The phonolite pyroclastic deposits are also characterized bya diverse, 7–8-phase phenocryst assemblage (alkali feldspar+ biotite + sodian diopside + titanomagnetite + ilmenite + nosean–haüyne+ titanite + apatite) with alkali feldspar dominant, in contrastto interbedded phonolite lavas that typically have lower phenocrystcontents and lack hydrous phases. Petrological and geochemicaldata are consistent with fractional crystallization (involvingthe observed phenocryst assemblages) as the dominant processin the development of phonolite magmas. New stratigraphicallyconstrained data indicate that petrological and geochemicaldifferences exist between pyroclastic deposits of the last twoexplosive cycles of phonolitic volcanism. Cycle 2 (0·85–0·57Ma) pyroclastic fall deposits commonly show a cryptic compositionalzonation indicating that several eruptions tapped chemically,and probably thermally stratified magma systems. Evidence formagma mixing is most widespread in the pyroclastic depositsof Cycle 3 (0·37–0·17 Ma), which includesthe presence of reversely and normally zoned phenocrysts, quenchedmafic glass blebs in pumice, banded pumice, and bimodal to polymodalphenocryst compositional populations. Syn-eruptive mixing eventsinvolved mostly phonolite and tephriphonolite magmas, whereasa pre-eruptive mixing event involving basaltic magma is recordedin several banded pumice-bearing ignimbrites of Cycle 3. Theperiodic addition and mixing of basaltic magma ultimately mayhave triggered several eruptions. Recharge and underplatingby basaltic magma is interpreted to have elevated sulphur contents(occurring as an exsolved gas phase) in the capping phonoliticmagma reservoir. This promoted nosean–haüyne crystallizationover nepheline, elevated SO₃ contents in apatite, and possiblyresulted in large, climatologically important SO₂ emissions. KEY WORDS: Tenerife; phonolite; crystal fractionation; magma mixing; sulphur-rich explosive eruptions     

Dike intrusion under shear stress: Effects on magnetic and vesicle fabrics in dikes from rift zones of Tenerife (Canary Islands)

A theoretical model predicting how anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility (AMS) and vesicle fabrics are modified by shear stress resolved on the dike walls prior to the final cooling of magma is developed for vertical dikes. The resulting fabrics are asymmetric with respect to initial fabrics assumed to be symmetric. Application of this model together with collected data on magma flow direction, dike propagation direction and mechanism, and shear sense, allow us to interpret dike fabrics in terms of shear resolved on the dike walls during intrusion (en echelon arrangement, offsetting, and dike curvature). The interpretation of AMS and vesicle fabrics of the margins of four dikes shows a reasonable agreement with the proposed theoretical models, suggesting that asymmetric fabrics can be used to infer magma flow and may provide valuable information on the shear resolved on the dike walls during intrusion.     

Chronology and causes of the extinction of the Lava Mouse, Malpaisomys insularis (Rodentia: Muridae) from the Canary Islands

Understanding late Holocene extinctions on islands requires accurate chronologies for all relevant events, including multiple colonisations by humans and the introduction of alien species. The most widely held hypothesis on the causes of Holocene island vertebrate extinctions incorporates human impacts, although climatic-related hypotheses cannot be excluded. Both hypotheses have been suggested to account for the extinction of the endemic Lava Mouse, Malpaisomys insularis from the Canary Islands. Here we present the first accelerator mass spectrometer (AMS) ¹⁴C ages from collagen of M. insularis bones from ancient owl pellets collected at Fuerteventura (Canary Islands, eastern Atlantic Ocean). These new dates contribute to an understanding of the extinction of this species. We are able to exclude climatic causes, predation by invasive species, and competition with the house mouse, Mus musculus. The arrival of Europeans in the Canary Islands correlates with the extinction of Malpaisomys. The introduction of rats, Rattus spp., together with their parasites and diseases, emerges as the most reasonable hypothesis explaining the extinction of M. insularis.     

Palynological Evidence for Climatic Change and Human Activity during the Holocene on Minorca (Balearic Islands)

Four pollen diagrams from Minorca (Balearic Islands) have been correlated with other previously studied sequences from Majorca and Minorca to define a Holocene landscape sequence for the region from 8000 yr B.P. to the present. The lower part of the pollen diagrams reflects a climatic phase with more rain and less-marked seasonality than today. Significant quantities ofCorylus, Buxus,and mesophilous taxa are found. In the middle part, between 5000 and 4000 yr B.P., a strong change is recorded in composition and structure of the vegetational landscape, with vegetation appearing that was adapted to Mediterranean conditions. This episode coincided with the first human colonization of the island and also with a widespread climatic change in the western Mediterranean region. The change in taxa was complex and some sclerophyllous taxa suchOleaplayed an important role in the transformation of the landscape physiognomy from the mid-Holocene until the present. Although human activities have removed much of the Mediterranean vegetation on the Balearic Islands, it seems clear that the changes have been brought about, in part, by increasing dryness.     

Peralkaline acid tendencies in Gran Canaria (Canary Islands)

The study of a volcanic series from the island of Gran Canaria (Canary Islands) in which alkaline and peralkaline, saturated and undersaturated rocks coexist, is reported here. Materials with high volatile content (ignimbritic trachytes) were first emitted and the series ended with the eruption of phonolitic lavas. The average peralkalinity index in these rocks is typically about 1.0 and, therefore, peralkaline rocks coexist with non-peralkaline ones. However, a maximum in peralkalinity is found in the ignimbritic rocks of the lower part of the series. In spite of the evident acid peralkaline tendencies of these rocks, it does not seem appropriate to classify them as pantellerites or comendites. Nor are they consistent with the genetic processes proposed for rocks of similar composition and oceanic environment.The crystallization of the feldspars controls the variation trends among the different magmas but the fractionation alone does not sufficiently explain the genesis of successive fluids. Various factors seem to point to the important role which a gas-transfer process causing a geochemical stratification inside the magmatic chamber may have played.The occurrence of peralkaline silicics at Gran Canaria, which is located for away from the active Mid-Atlantic ridge, is not related to transitional basalts. These rocks are a deviation from the main undersaturated alkalic trend which characterizes the volcanism of the Canary Islands, their genesis being related to the realization of favourable local volcanic conditions.