Hostname: page-component-84b7d79bbc-2l2gl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-28T06:03:00.503Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The origin of some collapse structures in the Canary Islands

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 May 2009

W. I. Ridley
W. I. Ridley
Affiliation:
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Manned Spacecraft Center, Houston, Texas 77058
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Three large collapse structures, two bounded by straight, vertical escarpments and curved head regions, are described from Tenerife. Similar structures appear to exist on Hierro and La Palma. Their size precludes landsliding as the dominant force in their formation, although it may have played a minor role in modifying the bounding walls. It is suggested that these structures are true volcanic collapse features developed by a ‘trap-door’ type of mechanism. The lack of classical caldera shapes appears to be a reflection of a lack of well-defined central volcanism on any of the islands, the collapses probably resulting from migration of magma away from the central rift-zones towards the flanks of the islands.

Type
Articles
Information
Geological Magazine , Volume 108 , Issue 6 , November 1971 , pp. 477 - 484
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bravo, T. 1962. El Circo de ‘Las Canadas’ y sus dependencias. Boln R. Soc. esp. Hist. nat. 60, 93–108.Google Scholar
Buch, L. von, 1825. Physicalische Beschreibung der Kanarischen Inseln. Berlin.Google Scholar
Fuster, J. M., Arane, V., Brandle, J. L., Navarro, M., Alonso, U. & Andaparicio, A. 1968. Geology and volcanology of the Canary Islands: Tenerife. Instituto Lucas Mallada, Madrid, 218 pp.Google Scholar
Hamilton, W. 1965. Geology and petrogenesis of the Island Park caldera of rhyolite and basalt. Prof. Pap. U.S. geol. Surv. 504–C.Google Scholar
Hausen, H. 1956. Contributions to the geology of Tenerife. Soc. Sci. Fenn. Comm. Phys-Math. 18, 11–247.Google Scholar
Hausen, H. 1961. Canarian calderas. C. R. Soc. Geol. Finl. 31, 179–213.Google Scholar
Lyell, C. 1855. A manual of elementary geology. London.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacDonald, G. A. 1965. Hawaiian calderas. Pacif. Sci. 19, 320–34.Google Scholar
MacFarlane, D. J. & Ridley, W. I. 1968. An interpretation of gravity data for Tenerife, Canary Islands. Earth Plan. Sci. Letters, 4, 481–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
MacFarlane, D. J. 1969 a. An interpretation of gravity data for Lanzarote, Canary Islands. Earth Plan. Sci. Letters 6, 431–6.Google Scholar
MacFarlane, D. J. 1969 b. Gravity data for some Canary islands. Proc. Geol. Soc.Google Scholar
Machado, F. 1964. Alguns problemas do vulcanismo da isla de Tenerife. Boln. Soc. Port. Cienc. Nat. 10, 26–45.Google Scholar
Ridley, W. I. 1969. The geology of the Las Canadas volcanoes, Tenerife, Canary Islands. Bull. volcan. (in press).Google Scholar
Williams, H. 1941. Calderas and their origin. Univ. Calif. Publs. Geol. Sci. 25, 239–346.Google Scholar