Explosive eruption, flank collapse and megatsunami at Tenerife ca. 170 ka.
other · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28504256.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms15246 and PMC identifier 5440666.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
Giant mass failures of oceanic shield volcanoes that generate tsunamis potentially represent a high-magnitude but low-frequency hazard, and it is actually difficult to infer the mechanisms and dynamics controlling them. Here we document tsunami deposits at high elevation (up to 132 m) on the north-western slopes of Tenerife, Canary Islands, as a new evidence of megatsunami generated by volcano flank failure. Analyses of the tsunami deposits demonstrate that two main tsunamis impacted the coasts of Tenerife 170 kyr ago. The first tsunami was generated during the submarine stage of a retrogressive failure of the northern flank of the island, whereas the second one followed the debris avalanche of the subaerial edifice and incorporated pumices from an on-going ignimbrite-forming eruption. Coupling between a massive retrogressive flank failure and a large explosive eruption represents a new type of volcano-tectonic event on oceanic shield volcanoes and a new hazard scenario.