Tenerife was hit by a seismic swarm, as tremors were recorded in the southern area of the island. The National Geographic Institute reported a total of 11 small earthquakes in the early hours of Thursday morning.
In the past 24 hours six tremors with a magnitude of to 2.4 were also reported in Santa Cruz. All of the tremors occurred at shallow depths, between zero and 13 kilometres below the surface. A shallow earthquake occurring at these depths is significant because it happens close to the Earth’s surface, where seismic waves have little distance to travel before reaching the ground.
This means the energy does not dissipate much, so even moderate quakes can cause strong shaking and damage to buildings and infrastructure. Such shallow events are usually linked to tectonic activity along faults in the Earth’s crust, where pressures accumulate and are abruptly released.
In volcanic regions, shallow tremors can also indicate magma movement or changes in geothermal systems, sometimes serving as early warnings of eruptions. Because of their proximity to the surface, shallow earthquakes generally pose a higher hazard to people and property than deeper ones of the same magnitude.
Tenerife is a volcanic island dominated by the Teide stratovolcano, the highest peak in Spain.
Mount Teide stands at 3,718 m when measured from sea level, but if measured from its base under the ocean floor, it is the world’s third highest volcano after the Hawaiian peaks of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.
Despite its imposing appearance, the volcano is geologically rather young, at just 200,000 years old. The last eruption to trouble Tenerife was on 18 November 1909 by the Chinyero volcano, which went from having nine mouths to just three.
When it comes to seismic activity in the Canaries, Tenerife is by far the most active island, averaging between 1000 to 1200 earthquakes a year. The last significant quake happened on November 3, 2021, with a magnitude of 4.9 – some 154 kilometres (96 miles) west of Santa Cruz at a depth of 40km.
A stronger earthquake, magnitude 5.2, was felt widely across Tenerife and Gran Canaria on May 9, 1989, according to the National Geographic Institute.