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The eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma, located off the northwestern coast of Africa, has been erupting for nearly eleven weeks with no signs of abating. Soon the eruption could be La Palma’s longest in over 500 years. The Cumbre Vieja volcano erupted on Sept. 19 and led to the evacuation of thousands of residents. For the last 75 days, the volcano has spewed lava out of fissures, unleashed plumes of ash and toxic gasses, and acid rain. After two and a half months of non-stop volcanic eruptions, some parts of the island...

When CBS News pointed incorrectly to a region in Murcia, Spain when trying to locate La Palma, an island in the Canaries, the internet did its thing. I know, geography can be SO confusing! The Cumbre Vieja volcanic eruption sits on the Iberian Peninsula of Spain, but when CBS gave this report on the catastrophe, they pointed to a region in Murcia, Spain, 2,219 kilometres away. To be fair, a La Palma does exist in the region of Murcia near Cartagena. When speaking about an island, however, it is not too difficult to see the mistake when CBS points to...

As the eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano on the Spanish island of La Palma enters its 38th day, a politician from a neighboring island has raised the idea of dropping bombs on it to divert lava flows.

Seismic activity is slowly moving towards the southern part of La Palma. This is where a giant landslide could trigger a devastating tsunami. Within the last 2 days, more than 115 earthquakes have been located in the southern area of ​​the island of La Palma. Twelve of them were felt by the population and even four reaching an intensity III-IV in the epicentral zones. The largest earthquake, a M3.7, occurred at 19:14 UTC yesterday evening. Something big is brewing! This guy even suggests a new volcano could soon start erupting on the southern part of the island… Terrifying, no? As...

The volcanic eruption on the island of La Palma has been ongoing for nearly a week and has forced thousands to flee and destroyed hundreds of properties due to its massive lava flow. However, as photos show, at least one property miraculously remains standing. A miraculous sight was photographed on the Spanish island of El Palma where the Cumbre Vieja volcano has been erupting and spewing lava for nearly a week. Hundreds of homes were devoured by the fast-flowing lava, but somehow, some way, at least one was left standing all by its lonesome. Ada Monnikendam, who built the house...

It is claimed that the passages predict “everyone will flee” as “young men [are] left to pieces” A CONSPIRACY theorist has claimed that The Bible holds “hidden” passages which predict Spain will be destroyed by a giant tsunami. According to a ‘psychic’ who goes by the name T Chase, Cumbre Vieja on La Palma – not far from tourist hotspot Tenerife – will be hit first. It is claimed the devastation will be triggered when a volcano on the Canary Islands erupts, sparking huge tidal waves. North Africa would then be hit next, it is claimed. The passages which it...

Olympia, the Sanctuary of Zeus and venue of the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, was probably destroyed by tsunamis that reached far inland, and not as previously believed, by earthquakes and river flooding... Paläotsunamis that have taken place over the last 11,000 years along the coasts of the eastern Mediterranean. The Olympic-tsunami hypothesis has been put forward due to sediments found in the vicinity of Olympia, which were buried under an 8 metres thick layer of sand and other debris, and only rediscovered around 250 years ago. "The composition and thickness of the sediments we have found, do not fit...

Ship-sinking monster waves revealed by ESA satellites   Rare photo of a rogue wave     21 July 2004  Once dismissed as a nautical myth, freakish ocean waves that rise as tall as ten-storey apartment blocks have been accepted as a leading cause of large ship sinkings. Results from ESA's ERS satellites helped establish the widespread existence of these 'rogue' waves and are now being used to study their origins.  Severe weather has sunk more than 200 supertankers and container ships exceeding 200 metres in length during the last two decades. Rogue waves are believed to be the major...

Waves the size of the Chrysler building may seem like they belong in a movie trailer, but scientists have recently found that megatsunamis are all too real. Scientists say that 73,000 years ago, a large flank (or slope) from the volcanic island Fogo in the Cape Verde islands off the coast of Africa fell into the ocean and triggered a tsunami that could – quite literally – move mountains. “You’re displacing a huge mass, which must generate movement of water,” Ricardo Ramalho, the lead researcher behind the study, told The Washington Post. “And in the case of volcanic flank collapses...

Geologists think that the eastern slope of Fogo volcano crashed into the sea some 65,000 to 124,000 years ago, leaving a giant scar where a new volcano can be seen growing in this satellite image. Credit: NASA ========================================================================================================================================= Scientists working off west Africa in the Cape Verde Islands have found evidence that the sudden collapse of a volcano there tens of thousands of years ago generated an ocean tsunami that dwarfed anything ever seen by humans. The researchers say an 800-foot wave engulfed an island more than 30 miles away. The study could revive a simmering controversy over whether sudden...

UNSW scientists have shown -- for the first time -- that a series of high-profile burial sites in the Pacific, Mediterranean and northern Scotland were likely related to catastrophic tsunamis... Honorary Professor James Goff from the PANGEA Research Centre at UNSW Sydney, who co-authored the paper, says the research provides new insights into past human-environment interactions and a new perspective on past catastrophic events... The researchers looked at coastal mass burial sites in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu as well as in Orkney and Shetland. The mass graves cover a long timeframe of human history -- they are from about...

Researchers plot course of ancient American tsunami Researchers have calculated the scale of a giant wave that devastated the north west coast of America 1,100 years ago. Japanese scientists used computer modelling to recreate the devastation from the ancient tsunami. The team from the Disaster Reduction and Human Renovation Institution in Kobe say the work will help planners minimise the impact of any future wave. The researchers took clues from silt deposits found in the Puget Sound, a Pacific inlet above earthquake fault lines in the Seattle area. Experts say the tsunami could have reached up to seven metres in...

MORE than 270 earthquakes have been recorded in just ten days near Spain’s Canary Islands raising fears of a volcanic eruption. The quakes have struck near Tenerife and Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands where there is a huge submarine fault between the two islands. Spain’s National Geographic Institute said the biggest recent quake reached a magnitude of 3.2 on the Richter scale at only about 35km from Puerto La Luz in Gran Canaria. A report said the fault line has not been active in recent times, but it added, “What if it started spewing magma again? And what if...

How a tsunami develops A tsunami is made up of a series of travelling ocean waves of extremely long wavelength. They are triggered by large disturbances such as earthquakes, undersea volcanic eruptions or deep sea landslides. The figure below shows the amplitude, trough and crest of a tsunami wave in relation to the sea floor and still water level. Note how the wave shape changes and the height increases as it approaches the coastline. Effects of tsunami Tsunami are a threat to people and property in coastal and low-lying estuarine areas. The waves travel quickly, rapidly flooding and damaging coastal...

The volcanic activity, principally at the convergence of the three ridges, resulted in the continual expansion of the island. A mere 50,000 years ago, as a result of seismic tremors which produced massive landslides, a giant piece of the island cracked off, crashed down into the ocean and scattered along the seabed. This landslide of more than 300km3 gave rise to the impressive amphitheatre of the El Golfo valley and at the same time caused a tsunami that most likely rose over 100 metres high and probably reached as far as the American coast.

This chart shows the accumulated earthquake energy since about early August around El Hierro in the Canary Islands. This is the volcano group that can generate a 150 foot tall tsunami on the east coast under certain circumstances. Heads up!

PARIS (AFP) - "The sea was driven back, and its waters flowed away to such an extent that the deep sea bed was laid bare and many kinds of sea creatures could be seen," wrote Roman historian Ammianus Marcellus, awed at a tsunami that struck the then-thriving port of Alexandria in 365 AD. "Huge masses of water flowed back when least expected, and now overwhelmed and killed many thousands of people... Some great ships were hurled by the fury of the waves onto the rooftops, and others were thrown up to two miles (three kilometres) from the shore." Ancient documents...

It's a terrifying vision: A violent eruption of Italy's Mount Etna triggers a massive collapse of one flank of the volcano, sending 35 cubic kilometers of debris--the equivalent of 10,000 Cheops pyramids--hurtling at 400 kilometers an hour into the Ionian Sea. The Big Splash unleashes a 50-meter-tall wall of water that, within a few hours, wipes out coastal settlements across the Mediterranean. This catastrophe happened 8000 years ago--and a Mediterranean monster of similar magnitude could happen again. That's the scenario invoked in an analysis in last week's Geophysical Research Letters. "It was an extraordinary event, probably the largest tsunami unleashed...

Fossil Frank has a hypothesis - inspired by certain shells taken from deep in a limestone quarry abutting the Everglades - that a great tsunami hit Florida about two million years ago. It happened in the evening - and he can prove it. More of this later. Before Frank Perillo became Fossil Frank he was an unhappy mechanic. He hated every day he lay on his back in Ketcham's garage. Winter days were worst, because his hands turned to meat from the cold and the lacquer thinners he used to wash himself. When he jacked up cars, the ice on...

I just had a scary (though possibly naive) thought. I've read quite a bit about the La Palma volcano in the Canary Islands triggering a "mega-tsunami". From what I've read this is a virtually certainty in the next 2000 years. Apparently an eruption 60+ years ago "loosened" a massive piece of rock from the side of the mountain creating a 6 foot "crack" as it moved towards the Atlantic ocean. If and when this 20+ mile piece of rock collapses into the ocean, a maga-tsunami would be generated that could be up to to 1000 feet high, moving across the...