Unusual surface tremors detected around Mount Teide
The National Geographic Institute (IGN) has recorded several minor earthquakes in recent hours around Mount Teide in Tenerife, some at unusually shallow depths.
While seismic activity is common in this part of the island, most tremors usually occur at medium to deep levels, between 5 and 20 kilometres below the surface. On this occasion, however, one quake was registered at a depth of just one kilometre, and another at zero depth.
The zero-depth tremor took place near Teide at 12:10am on Thursday with a magnitude of 0.3 mbLg. The one-kilometre-deep quake was recorded the same day at 7:00pm and had a magnitude of 1.4 on the Richter scale.
Other recent seismic events
In the early hours of Wednesday, two small earthquakes were also detected in La Orotava, at depths of 4 and 6 kilometres, with magnitudes of 0.3 and 1.1 mbLg.
Meanwhile, in recent days several tremors have been registered in the area of the Enmedio volcano, located in the waters between Tenerife and Gran Canaria. Over the past three days, five quakes have been reported there, two of them at zero depth. The strongest, measuring 2.1 and 2.3 on the Richter scale, occurred at depths of 12 and 15 kilometres.
No cause for alarm
Experts stress that this type of low-magnitude seismic activity is normal in the Canary Islands, particularly around volcanic areas such as Teide.
These small quakes are carefully monitored as part of routine volcanic surveillance but pose no risk to residents or visitors.
Earthquakes detected in and around Tenerife over the last 90 days. Source: IGN
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