A lava do vulcão Cumbre Vieja It is increasingly entering the Atlantic Ocean, and its accumulation has formed a marine delta that has already reached more than 500 meters from the shore.
In geography, deltas are formed by the accumulation of sediment from a river in the ocean, shaped like a triangle. In the case of the offshore delta of the Canary Islands, the sediment is the lava itself that descends from the volcano through a fissure in the surface of its cone to the coast.
The fissure, created by the lava, is about 30 meters deep into the sea. According to Rádio Televisão Canaria, the delta that has already formed occupies an area of 36 hectares and has advanced 540 meters from the coast towards the ocean.
A video clip recorded by a drone from ICMAN (Institut de la Marinerción de Andalucía) and published by CSIC (Supreme Council for Scientific Investigations) in Spain shows the accumulation of delta-forming lava, as it emerges gas withdrawal Due to the contact of volcanic materials with sea water.
The head of volcanic monitoring at the Spanish National Geographic Institute, Carmen Lopez, explained that the gaseous emissions are caused by the thermal contrast between the lava and the sea, and they consist of water vapor and hydrochloric acid. According to the expert, such emissions only affect the contact area, although she cautioned that wind changes should be reported to nearby residents.
From another angle, firefighters from the Canary Islands have also recorded lava deltas. They are working to inspect damaged roofs and homes. lava already Affected more than 1,000 buildings. Check out the video below.
sulfur dioxide
The Involcan (Canary Islands Volcanic Institute) reports today that the Cumbre Vieja volcano has already released about 250,000 tons of sulfur dioxide (SO2) since September 19, when it erupted.
The estimate is based on the measurement of SO2 emissions at the land mobile site, which currently has “significant limitations due to several factors”.
Despite this, the agency says that knowing the levels of sulfur dioxide released also makes it possible to estimate the volume of lava from the Cumbre Vieja eruption, which is about 35 million cubic metres.
The scientific committee advising the volcanic emergency plan for the Canary Islands calculated a few days ago that the volume of material emitted from the volcano, which will include volcanic piles, was about 80 million cubic metres. In other words, the damage so far may be less than imagined.
* With information from EFE
