An analysis of the morphological, geological and structural features of Teide stratovolcano, Tenerife
Introduction
While our knowledge of the geology of the island of Tenerife has improved markedly over the past decades, geological investigations of Teide volcano are less advanced. Until recently, studies of Teide were carried out as part of investigations of larger areas (Carracedo, 1994, Carracedo, 1999, Martí et al., 1994, Ancochea et al., 1999). More recent mapping, geochemical and petrological investigations on Teide by Ablay and Martí (2000) form the basis of our current understanding of the structure and evolution of the Teide–Pico Viejo complex. The only other geological detailed investigation of part of Teide was by Pérez-Torrado et al. (2004) who studied a small locality on the north-western flank. Although a number of geophysical investigations have been carried out in the Las Cañadas Caldera (e.g. Ablay and Kearey, 2000, Pous et al., 2002), these have not extended to the Teide edifice.
Outstanding problems on the evolution and morphology of the Teide edifice include the significance and mode of formation of enigmatic morphological features on the edifice. These include large ‘bulges’ at mid-elevation which are apparent on both topographic and slope maps of the edifice. Other features identified on aerial photographs that cannot be interpreted without detailed fieldwork include eruption vents, abrupt terminations to lava flows, vertical scarps, and hydrothermally altered areas. To fully understand the formation of these features, an improved knowledge of the structural stability of the edifice and the volcanological evolution of the volcano are required. To achieve this, we used GIS to analyse data from high resolution aerial photographs and digital elevation models in combination with detailed field investigations and numerical models.
In addition to improving our understanding of the structure and evolution of Teide edifice, the present study aims to provide data on potential hazards on Teide. This was stimulated by a significant increase in seismic activity on Tenerife in 2004 (García et al., 2006, Gottsmann et al., 2006).
Section snippets
Geological setting
In this section, we present an extensive review of previous work on the geology of Tenerife, the Las Cañadas Edifice and the Teide–Pico Viejo system. The information provided in this section is needed in order to fully understand some of the processes that will be discussed later.
Methods
The present study uses a combination of detailed field observations, photogeological interpretation, geochemical and petrographical analyses, and numerical modelling to improve our knowledge of the evolution and structure of the Teide–Pico Viejo stratovolcano.
A range of large-scale geomorphological features on Teide were identified using colour aerial photographs (1:18,000 scale) in conjunction with a digital elevation model with a 10 m mesh derived from 1:5000 cartography produced by GRAFCAN.
Enigmatic features on Teide – a description
The following sections contain a description of key morphological and structural features encountered on the Teide–Pico Viejo complex. The interpretation of these data and their structural implications will be presented in 4 Enigmatic features on Teide – a description, 5 Enigmatic features on Teide – origin and significance.
Enigmatic features on Teide – origin and significance
In this section we assess the significance and origin of the features described in Section 4. Smaller scale features and deposits are analysed first because they are important for the discussion on the formation of the bulges in Section 6.
Formation of the bulges
Different hypotheses for the origin of two bulges at mid-elevation are proposed. In addition to the data presented in Section 4, the analysis of these large-scale features involved the development of preliminary 2-D finite element models to assess the effects of basement influence, potential proto-Teide edifice morphology during the building stages of Teide and large edifice instabilities. Additionally, caldera collapses, flank vents, cryptodome intrusions, lava field morphologies and glacial
Conclusions
The abnormal morphological features found on Teide volcano are a direct consequence of its complex structure. If our interpretation is correct, the presence of large, buried vents beneath both bulges suggests that flank vents other than Pico Viejo have formed. This consequently has significant implications for the location of future eruption vents and areas that might be affected. The presence of several feeding volcanic systems within the edifice could have generated a broader volume of
Acknowledgements
This research was partly funded by Cartográfica de Canarias S.A. (GRAFCAN) which also provided access to valuable geographical data sets. Hugh Tuffen is gratefully acknowledged for his help with petrographical analyses. We thank Robert J. Watters and John A. Stevenson for their valuable help in the field and for stimulating discussions at the early stages of this study. Alberto Ledesma is acknowledged for granting access to Plaxis 8x. Benjamin van Wyk de Vries and Claus Siebe are thanked for
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2014, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal ResearchCitation Excerpt :The thickness of the vadose zone and the SP interpolated value have been computed for each of the original measurement points of Coppo et al. (2008). Both variables have been plotted in Fig. 9C, dividing the points in two subsets, those inside or very close to and those outside Diego Hernández caldera, taking the boundary of the caldera from Del Potro et al. (2009). If the water-saturated layer is assumed to be a perfect conductor which has accumulated the excess positive electrical charge transported by meteoric water infiltration downwards through the vadose zone, then the electrical potential at the terrain surface could be approximated as a linearly decreasing function of the thickness of the vadose zone.
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2013, Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal ResearchCitation Excerpt :We only include the fracture that is more relevant for the stability of Teide. Following our previous findings (del Potro and Hürlimann, 2009; del Potro et al., 2009), the presence of hydrothermally altered material in the summit region and in the Las Calvas flank vent is also analysed. The volumes of these hydrothermally altered regions are unknown and we assume a depth of 900 m for both.
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2011, Computers and GeosciencesCitation Excerpt :A possible interpretation of the model includes the presence of hydrothermally altered deposits of the volcanic edifice and/or its construction from dominantly low-density lava flows and pyroclastics. Recent results reported by del Potro et al. (2009) are consistent with this inference. These authors propose the existence of an east bulge volcano situated in the East flank of PT.