Eruptive and structural history of Teide Volcano and rift zones of Tenerife, Canary Islands

The Teide and Pico Viejo stratocones and the NW and NE Rifts are products of the latest eruptive phase of the Island of Tenerife, initiated with the lateral collapse of its northern flank that formed the Cañadas Caldera and the Icod-La Guancha Valley at about 200 ka. The eruptive and structural evolution of this volcanic complex has been reconstructed after detailed geological mapping and radioisotopic dating of the significant eruptive events. A set of 54 new 14C and K/Ar ages provides precise age control of the recent eruptive history of Tenerife, particularly Teide Volcano, the third highest volcanic feature on earth (3718 m a.s.l.,7 km high) and quite unique in terms of its intraplate setting. The development of the Teide-Pico Viejo volcanoes may be related to the activity of the NW and NE Rifts. Volcanic and intrusive activity along both rift zones may have played an important role in activating the gravitational landslide and in the subsequent growth, nested within the collapse embayment, of an increasingly higher central volcano with progressively differentiated magmas. The coeval growth of the central volcano with sustained activity along the rifts led to a clear bimodal distribution in composition of eruptive products, with the basaltic eruptions in the distal part of the rifts and phonolitic and more explosive eruptions in the central area, where the differentiated stratocones developed. Current volcanic hazard in Tenerife is considered to be moderate,