Lava falls more slowly but flows widen | Eruption in the Canary Islands

The wash that spits the volcano on the Spanish island of Palm it continues to slow down, according to the latest estimate, to around 4 meters per hour, but one of the two streams continues to widen its front and already exceeds 500 meters.

The slowing down of this wash, which is the one that reached the Todoque district of 1,200 inhabitants, does not imply that the eruptive process has diminished (the other wash has been stopped), according to the director in the Canaries of the Geographical Institute. National (IGN) of Spain, María José Blanco.

Nor that the seismicity manifested “not only a low level like lately, but recorded so-called long-term signals linked to explosive phenomena” which occurred last night, more intense than those of the previous days.

The slower laundry, which reaches in some places heights of 12 metersIndeed, “it is more and more difficult to move forward” because it loses temperature as it moves away from the cone and because it has to pass through the “large volume” of material already deposited, which has also cooled. surface. “But, although slowly, progress continues,” Blanco said, after the Volcanic Emergency Plan (Pevolca) committee meeting.

He pointed out that the lava emission center “remains the same”, the deformations of the surface “maintain a stable velocity” and the rate of entry of magma from the crust to the volcano reservoir – about 26 million meters. cubes – and output to the area is the same.

Based on the current velocity and the measured emission rates, the expert doubts that the lava reaches the sea today or tomorrow, which depends on other factors such as temperature, fluidity and topography, which at present considers a predominant factor.

The explosions seen in recent days have not been accompanied by long-term signals on the seismometers and Blanco was confident they will continue to occur. He also did not rule out that new mouths of the volcano could appear., which erupted last Sunday.

He said an episode of acid rain in the Canary Islands archipelago is highly unlikely and assured the air quality is “good” at the moment.

The ash column reached an altitude of 4,500 meters and has today affected aeronautical operations.