Late complex tensile fracturing interacts with topography at Cumbre Vieja, La 
Palma

Walter, Thomas; Zorn, Edgar U.; González, Pablo J.; Sansosti, Eugenio; Muñoz, Valeria; Shevchenko, Alina V.; Plank, Simon Manuel; Reale, Diego; Richter, Nicole

doi:10.30909/vol.06.01.0117

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT

Add to Basket

Local TagsRelease HistoryDetailsSummary

Released

Journal Article

Late complex tensile fracturing interacts with topography at Cumbre Vieja, La Palma

Authors

/persons/resource/twalter

Walter, Thomas
2.1 Physics of Earthquakes and Volcanoes, 2.0 Geophysics, Departments, GFZ Publication Database, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

Zorn, Edgar U.
External Organizations;

González, Pablo J.
External Organizations;

Sansosti, Eugenio
External Organizations;

Muñoz, Valeria
External Organizations;

/persons/resource/alinash

Shevchenko, Alina V.
2.1 Physics of Earthquakes and Volcanoes, 2.0 Geophysics, Departments, GFZ Publication Database, Deutsches GeoForschungsZentrum;

Plank, Simon Manuel
External Organizations;

Reale, Diego
External Organizations;

Richter, Nicole
External Organizations;

External Ressource

No external resources are shared

Fulltext (public)

5024903.pdf
(Publisher version), 7MB

Supplementary Material (public)

There is no public supplementary material available

Citation

Walter, T., Zorn, E. U., González, P. J., Sansosti, E., Muñoz, V., Shevchenko, A. V., Plank, S. M., Reale, D., Richter, N. (2023): Late complex tensile fracturing interacts with topography at Cumbre Vieja, La Palma. - Volcanica, 6, 1-17.
https://doi.org/10.30909/vol.06.01.0117

Cite as: https://gfzpublic.gfz-potsdam.de/pubman/item/item_5024903

Abstract

Volcanic eruptions are often preceded by episodes of inflation and emplacement of magma along tensile fractures. Here we study the 2021 Tajogaite-Cumbre Vieja eruption on La Palma, Canary Islands, and present evidence for tensile fractures dissecting the new cone during the terminal stage of the eruption. We use synthetic aperture radar (SAR) observations, together with drone images and time-lapse camera data, to determine the timing, scale and complexities associated with a fracturing event, which is diverging at a topographic ridge. By comparing the field dataset with analogue models, we further explore the details of lens-shaped fractures that are characteristic for faults diverging at topographic highs and converging at topographic lows. The observations made at Cumbre Vieja and in our models are transferrable to other volcanoes and add further evidence that topography is substantially affecting the geometry and complexity of fractures and magma pathways, and the locations of eruptions.