La Palma Volcano

A volcano is formed after the opening of the earths surface, which results to the formation of a mountain or a hill (depending on its size). Usually, a volcano is cone-shaped and contains a crater (otherwise known as a vent) through which a viscous substance known as lava as well as other hot fragments, hot vapor, and gas erupting, find their way onto the earths surface. There exist active, dormant and extinct volcanoes. Active ones are those, which still contain erupting lava, producing gas or performing any other type of seismic activity. A dormant volcano is the one which has ceased to erupt and which may do so in the future. However, a dormant volcano, which has not erupted lava for the last 10,000 years, is viewed as extinct. This paper is going to discuss the La Palma volcano.

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Standing at latitude of 28.57 and a longitude of -17.83, the La Palma volcano is a Stratovolcano situated in the west of the Canary Islands. Its stretch is 6500 meters above the floor of the surrounding ocean. Specifically, La Palma is made up of a line, which is separated by two rock layers and that stretches 427 meters above sea level. One of the two layers separating the volcano is made up of pillows of lavas, which are cut by basaltic dikes. This volcano is an example of interpolate volcanoes which is not related to plate boundaries but rather to the rising of the deep-mantle plume.

The last of the eruptions in La Palma volcano occurred in 1971. Therefore, the volcano can be termed as an active one. Most of the eruptions of the volcano were caldera. In this regard, they were very explosive which makes the surrounding areas susceptible to sinking. Notably La Palma is a shield volcano, which means that it had many openings for the eruption of the magma. There are other volcanoes which are cinder cones implying that they had a single opening where the magma erupted.

Below the main eruption, La Palma has a pluton, a plutonic rock crystallizing below the earths surface. This rock forms a lacolith- a dome-shaped body of an ingenious rock. Between the two layers of the volcano is an intrusive substance known as a sill and which separates the two layers. As the various eruptions occurred in La Palma, the geothermal gradient increased because of the increasing temperatures. The eruption and formation of La Palma volcano is of great importance in the study of geology because the last eruption happened in 1971.

To conclude, a volcano is results from the eruption of a hot substance called lava and which cools down to become magma. Depending on the viscosity of the lava, the eruptions can form either a mountain or a hill. The La Palma volcano is one of most active volcano of the Canary Island. After eruption, it formed a shield volcano due to the various openings that it had during eruption. Further, this volcano has two layers of rock, which are separated by a sill. Below the earths surface is a lacolith, which is a rock that forms beneath the surface of the earth. This volcano however, has a possibility of collapse due to the caldera nature of the eruptions. Indeed, the volcano is a beautiful spectacle to see.