Géomorphologie : relief, processus, environnement, 2001, n° 2, p. 93-106

Abridged English version volcanic series erupted in the past Myr (Ancochea et aL, 1994; Guillou et aL, 7998; Carracedo et al, 1999a and b). The island of La Palma, with El Hierro, forms the western The Taburiente volcano initially formed the northern part of end of the hotspot-generated Canary Islands chain. This the island and then extended to the south, forming the Cumbre island is at present in its earliest and fastest stage of growth, Nueva ridge, which was partially destroyed at ca. 560 ka by characterized by high construction rates and recurrent a giant lateral landslide involving 180-200 km3 of subaerial instability (Carracedo et aL, 1998). La Palma displays two volcanic material (Carracedo et aL, 1999a). The unconfor- distinct phases of volcanic construction: 1) a Pliocene mity between the weathered submarine volcanic materials submarine volcanic and intrusive series; and 2) a subaerial and the overlaying products of subaerial volcanism has been