Geochemical variation trends between the different Canary Islands in relation to their geological position

Geochemical variation trends established from 700 chemical analyses of rocks from the Canary Islands, show that the islands can be separated into two distinct groups. One group consists of Gran Canaria, Tenerife and La Palma with alkaline characters and rapid progressive alkalinization trends. The other group of islands (Lanzarote, Fuerteventura, La Gomera and El Hierro), also has an alkaline character but differs from the former in showing slower alkalinization trends. The evolution patterns of the magmas of both groups indicate that each new magmatic cycle is on the whole more alkaline than its immediate predecessor. These differences a are supposed to be connected with the predominance in the one group of magmatism related to ‘African’ tectonic lines and in the other of magmatism related to ‘Atlantic’ tectonic lines.