Three underwater volcanoes discovered in the Canary Islands

The Canary Islands hid three underwater volcanoes in the northern part of the archipelago and a team of researchers coordinated by the Geological and Mining Institute of Spain (IGME-CSIC), of the Higher Council for Scientific Research, has just discovered it. Such is the surprise and joy that they have already baptized it with the name: Mount Los Atlantes. In this way, they honor the Atlantis project that is being developed on board the Sarmiento de Gamboa, the CSIC’s oceanographic vessel.

Specifically, these new volcanoes are located east of Lanzarote and experts believe that they could be related to the Timanfaya eruptions. However, there is also the theory that they were islands in the Eocene, between 56 and 34 million years ago.

Exploring the underwater world

This discovery would not have been made without the unmanned submarine ROV, which is investigating the seabed around the archipelago between 2,500 and 100 metres deep. “Its objective is to detect signs of magmatic and hydrothermal submarine activity in the archipelago, which could pose a future risk to the population,” the researchers explain in a statement. “Environmental processes and the formation of underwater minerals in extreme conditions are also being investigated, where microorganisms promote the biomineralisation of metals such as manganese, cobalt, phosphates or rare earths; all of which are so important in the energy transition.”

The research group that made the discovery is the same one that discovered the so-called grandmothers, seamounts south of the Canary Islands that are considered ancestors of the current archipelago, among which is the famous Tropic seamount.

Coral gardens, sponges, lava tubes

Now, they have discovered Los Atlantes. “They were islands in the past and they have sunk, they are still sinking, as the legend of Atlantis says. Some of us have been able to confirm that they still have their beaches,” explains the geologist and project coordinator Luis Somoza.

According to the images obtained, they have been able to observe the vast amount of life that exists on the seabed after the underwater lava flows formed the lava deltas, also verifying how underwater life is reborn after the recent eruptions with new gardens of corals and sponges, or areas covered with bacterial mats next to the hydrothermal sources. Some of the lava flows reach more than 1,200 meters deep. When their outer layer cools, tubes are formed that allow the hot lava to flow over the slopes, forming impressive pipes at great depths. These are the famous toothpaste lavas.

Ambientum Editorial