The eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano, on the Spanish island of La Palma, in the Canary Islands, has had a devastating effect on one of the region’s main postcards: the beach at Los Gres, a local asset to attracting surfers.
The beach was covered with a mass of hot lava about 500 meters wide and 700 meters long. According to El País newspaper, when magma comes into contact with the sea, it can turn water into something similar to glass.
“It was a magical wave, real magic. And even the wind didn’t change it: it was protected by the cliffs that surrounded it. It was the perfect beach for all kinds of surfers, because it was shallow, so the lava was so lava,” said the president of the Canary Islands Surfing Federation, Angel Lobo, In an interview with El Mundo newspaper:
Lobo also mentioned that the beach’s water is considered “crystalline” and lamented that lava had changed that in place.
The outgassing from the volcano, which includes the thermal contrast between the lava and the sea, consists of water vapor and hydrochloric acid. In addition, Magna’s contact with the ocean caused a fissure 475 meters from the coast, 30 meters deep and 27.7 hectares surface.
Since it erupted two weeks ago, the volcano has released 80 million cubic meters of magma and has damaged at least 1,005 buildings – many residential buildings – of which 885 have been destroyed.
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