Again another story that isn’t to do with Madeira, but it could well affect Madeira if the worse happens. This is probably the cause of the number of earthquakes around our island for the last few weeks. What I want to know is, do the government have any warnings in place.????
In October 2011, following weeks of intense seismic activity, an underwater volcano erupted off the coast of El Hierro in Spain’s Canary Islands. Ten years later, the nearby island of La Palma appears to be facing the same situation. In the past few days, more than 4,200 tremors have been recorded and a ground deformation indicates that magma is bubbling beneath the surface.
The team of experts monitoring the phenomenon, the Volcano Risk Prevention Plan (Pevolca), says it is possible that this magma could cause a volcanic eruption on the surface in the next few days or weeks. But while the process has intensified, there are no clear signs of an imminent eruption. For this reason, Pevolca decided on Tuesday to elevate the risk of a volcanic eruption to yellow – the second-highest in the three-tiered system.
This earthquake swarm began on September 11, and since then, more than 4,200 tremors have been detected. Nearly all have been of small magnitude, but on Wednesday there were four that measured more than 3 on the Richter scale. What’s more, the tremors are also becoming closer to the surface, which indicates that magma is looking to escape. While the first earthquakes were recorded at more than 20 kilometers below the surface, on Wednesday, they hit at a depth of between six and eight kilometers. Indeed 20 tremors were recorded at just three kilometers below the surface. Another sign of the pressure is that, in the area of the earthquake swarm, the island has swelled six centimeters – 4.5 centimeters on Wednesday alone.