New volcanoes near Tenerife are growing, altering the underwater landscape until they emerge above the water.
Near El Hierro, southwest and a stone’s throw from La Restringa, the underwater volcano Tagoro is creating a new mountain. Also to the north of Lanzarote, in addition to the underground mountain La Concepción, two more submarine hills called Dacia and Triton have emerged. At a depth of two thousand metres between Gran Canaria and Tenerife, the volcano Enmedio grows resistant and is over five hundred metres high.
Up to 152 million years old
But none of these islands qualify to be referred to as treasures. We are talking about the islands in the making southwest of the Canary archipelago that were given the names Las Hijas, Bimbache, Paps, Echo, Drago, Tropic, Gaire and Amuley. The sunken islands are located between 50 and 100 kilometres southwest of the Canary Islands and are all of volcanic origin.
The eight new arrivals are located at depths between 3,500 and 5,000 metres and are 92 to 152 million years old. They were born along the formation of today’s Canary Islands. By comparison, Fuerteventura is the oldest island and is ‘only’ 20 million years old.
Marine Geology
These submarine volcanoes showed impressive mining potential in 2017, especially inside Tropic, where one of the largest tellurium reserves in the world was discovered. Current calculations show that these areas yield up to 130 tonnes per square kilometre of strategic resource. In it is contained rare earths, which are currently mainly exploited by China.
The scientific journal ‘Marine Geology’ published a study conducted by the Instituto Geológico y Minero de España (IGME-CSIC), the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain, on the presence of important soil materials that can be used for the production of electric vehicles, solar panels and electronic components. These earth metals are present in the ferromanganese crusts that cover the eight submarine mountains southwest of El Hierro.
Precious subsoil
Focused on these underwater mountains, the study describes the geological processes that have caused these crusts to not only contain up to 20 times more rare earth metals than usual, there is also 4,000 times more tellurium and 500 times more cobalt present in these growing mountain masses.
Much of the surface is covered by a mineral crust composed mainly of manganese and iron. This crust is up to 20 centimetres thick and contains high concentrations of metals and other rare elements.
They are considered precious because they are the result of an extremely slow geological process. They grow at a rate of 0.8 to 2.6 millimetres per million years and possess a high resource content. Because they are crucial to the future of the technology industry, they are formally ranked as ‘strategic’ by the European Commission.
Key players
The study analyses the mining potential of these seamounts based on 42 samples, with the following results. Each square kilometre of their mineral crusts can be mined 130 tonnes of rare earths and yttrium, up to 215 tonnes of cobalt, 92 tonnes of nickel, 39 copper, 50 vanadium, 13 molybdenum, in addition to nearly 9,400 tonnes of manganese and almost 9,300 tonnes of iron. Recovery rates in the most valued materials are estimated at 95% in cobalt and 84% in rare earths.
But there are two problems. First, the impacts on valuable underwater ecosystems are detrimental to the marine environment. Previously, a British team, which discovered tropical telluric reserves, has led it to call for protection.
Spain versus Morocco
The second problem is ownership in that part of the Atlantic. Although there are some underwater volcanoes in the so-called ‘Provincia Submarina Canaria’ because they were created by the same volcanism, there are a number of mountains in international waters.
Therefore, Spain applied for the land area as property to the United Nations as part of the expansion of the Canary Islands to 350 nautical miles (648 kilometres). Only problem, Morocco has also made a similar claim, taking the coast of the occupied territories in Western Sahara as a reference. The two requests overlap just above Tropic and the UN has yet to rule on the matter.
More information about volcanoes in and near Tenerife.
Involcan © Photography
New volcanoes near Tenerife ©
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