Morphological and statistical characterisation of recent mafic volcanism on Tenerife (Canary Islands, Spain)

Tenerife is the largest island of the Canarian Archipelago and presents a complex volcanic history. The construction of a mafic shield and a phonolitic composite volcano represent the main features of the volcanic evolution of the island. Both volcanic complexes are still active, the first through two main rift zones and the second through the Teide-Pico Viejo central complex. Up to 297 mafic monogenetic volcanoes can be recognised on Tenerife, most of them corresponding to scoria cones that can been grouped into five geographical volcanic fields characterised by similar volcanological features. The large number of these edifices, compared to the other existing morphological volcano-types, indicates that they represent the most common eruptive events occurring during Tenerife's recent geological past and, therefore, the type with the shortest recurrence period and the most likely to occur in the near future. In this paper, the most frequent mafic monogenetic volcano is defined by means of the statistical analysis of its main volcano-morphological features (cone height, cone width ratio, crater width, crater depth, etc.). We have applied a simple methodology of our own design, based on statistical correlations and modal intervals of the morphological and morphometric parameters best defining the volcanoes' morphology. The most frequently identified mafic monogenetic volcano corresponds to a scoria cone with Strombolian to violent Strombolian dynamics, <= 100 high, and <0.01 km(3) in volume, covering an area of <0.2 km(2). By defining this most common mafic volcano or volcano-type we may provide key information on the nature of a potential volcanic event on Tenerife in the future. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.