La Palma, Canary Islands
Today we began our visit to the Canary Islands— we have left Portugal and are now in Spain. We spent the afternoon on the island of La Palma in the Province of Tenerife and we could see Teide, the volcanic peak of Tenerife clearly as we sailed into Santa Cruz de La Palma, the principal port. We explored the island traveling across to the west side and the magnificent caldera of Taburiente. This caldera is the major topographic feature on this volcanic island and is one of the oldest dating to perhaps 2 million years. The most recent volcanism in the Canaries is also on La Palma, on the southern tip at the crater of Teneguia which erupted in 1971. The caldera of Taburiente is one of the world’s largest with a length of 9 km. and a width of 5 km. It is over 2000 meters deep and on its rim is located the Canary Islands Astronomical Observatory which takes advantage of the 2400 m. altitude and the extremely clear sky of La Palma to carry out observations and experiments for astronomers from around the world.
The caldera is the one of the largest erosion calderas in the world. Many calderas are formed by collapse into an empty magma chamber or explosions which distribute the material from inside the volcano to its flanks. Taburiente was formed primarily by erosion once the rim had been breached. The incredibly steep interior walls provided us with magnificent vistas as we walked along the rim, but also some beautiful examples of volcanic features such as dikes with well-developed chilled contacts where they were injected into the cooler country rock around them.
After a taste of the local wines and cheeses we returned to Endeavour before continuing our voyage to another of the Canary Islands, La Gomera.
Today we began our visit to the Canary Islands— we have left Portugal and are now in Spain. We spent the afternoon on the island of La Palma in the Province of Tenerife and we could see Teide, the volcanic peak of Tenerife clearly as we sailed into Santa Cruz de La Palma, the principal port. We explored the island traveling across to the west side and the magnificent caldera of Taburiente. This caldera is the major topographic feature on this volcanic island and is one of the oldest dating to perhaps 2 million years. The most recent volcanism in the Canaries is also on La Palma, on the southern tip at the crater of Teneguia which erupted in 1971. The caldera of Taburiente is one of the world’s largest with a length of 9 km. and a width of 5 km. It is over 2000 meters deep and on its rim is located the Canary Islands Astronomical Observatory which takes advantage of the 2400 m. altitude and the extremely clear sky of La Palma to carry out observations and experiments for astronomers from around the world.
The caldera is the one of the largest erosion calderas in the world. Many calderas are formed by collapse into an empty magma chamber or explosions which distribute the material from inside the volcano to its flanks. Taburiente was formed primarily by erosion once the rim had been breached. The incredibly steep interior walls provided us with magnificent vistas as we walked along the rim, but also some beautiful examples of volcanic features such as dikes with well-developed chilled contacts where they were injected into the cooler country rock around them.
After a taste of the local wines and cheeses we returned to Endeavour before continuing our voyage to another of the Canary Islands, La Gomera.
