Spain: what will happen when the lava from the volcano hits the sea

According to specialists, when lava from La Palma volcano reaches the sea having razed more than 200 houses in its wake and damaged crops and roads, may lead to “some detonation on first contact”.

It is estimated that lava flows will reach the Atlantic Ocean at some point between the towns of Tazacorte and Puerto Naos, on the southeast coast of La Palma. It is the most touristic area, as well as the most populated of the island.

When the lava flow hits the sea it will be at a temperature of nearly a thousand degrees, For what will evaporate water from the surface. Besides, the gases contained in the magma will come into contact with those of the sea.

“It must be taken into account that seawater contains 35 grams of salts per liter. Among these salts, sodium chloride predominates and there is also sulfur, carbon and, to a lesser extent, lead and iodine, ”he explained. Jose mangas, professor of geology at the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, at the RTVE.

This combination can be toxic to neighboring populations.. The volcanologist of the National Geographical Institute Stavros Meletlidis asked “to keep a careful distance and to get away” from where the lava reaches the sea, since “the interaction between water and magma is very explosive“.

The contact of the lava with the water will cause, on the one hand, creating a column of water vapor of a few “hundreds of meters”. This column it will be harmlessExplain Ruben Lopez, from the National Geographic Institute. On the other, he washes it at a thousand degrees, will cool quickly upon meeting the sea, at about 24 degrees.

“This will cause fragmentation, some ballistic projectiles can exit and gas emission in this environment», Detailed López. For the specialist, this will not involve more danger than the current situation of the advance of the lava: “The contact of the magma with the water will involve certain dangers but everything is evacuated so that it does not pose a risk for population.”

The arrival of the lava will also have an impact on the marine environment, although Mangas says that “the affection is going to be very low”. “The fish will run away,” the geologist said.

Scientists also predict that magma, solidifying in water, increase the surface of the island, as happened in previous eruptions.

The damage continues

Nearly 200 houses washed away by the lava, more than 6,000 people evacuated and a river of magma which continues its way towards the sea. These are the images left by the Cumbre Vieja volcano two days after its eruption on the Spanish island of La Palma.

And does lava devastate everything in its path on the way to the coast of this island in the Spanish Canary Archipelago, albeit at a slower rate than expected, at around 120 meters per hour.

And, although it is not known for sure when the magma will reach the sea, experts and officials agree that it will eventually happen and, therefore, extreme precautions have been taken, as the foreseeable thing is that when washed at 1000 degrees of temperature comes into contact with salt water, releases toxic gases and explosions occur.

This moment will be “critical”, warned Tuesday the president of the regional government of the Canaries, Ángel Víctor Torres.

According to the Canary Islands Volcanic Emergency Plan (Pevolca), lava flows through two languages: one, the one to the southwest, has “minimal movement”, barely two meters per hour, and the committee scientist “doubts” That he will reactivate and, the other, the one who goes down the slope and who has already entered Todoque.

The technical director of Pevolca, Miguel Ángel Morcuende, indicated that the accumulated deformation of the surface near the area of ​​the eruption amounts to 25 centimeters, a “very important figure to demonstrate the tension” in the interior chamber of the volcano. and that “he tells us that there will continue to be an eruption”.

Another very important information to know when the eruption can end is the emission of sulfur dioxide (SO2) into the atmosphere, which the Volcanological Institute of the Canary Islands (Involcan) calculates between 7,997 and 10,665 tonnes per day.

The Pevolca also warns that the great thicknesses of the lava wall which advances towards the sea in La Palma, up to 12 meters at certain points, could cause in the areas of greater slope the formation of large fragments of lava which can be detach from the forehead. and reach greater distances.

In addition to the 103 hectares of land already covered in lava, the destruction of the houses is of particular concern, and is that “the lava engulfs the houses as if they were made of paper,” said Beatriz, a resident of La Laguna, the ‘one of the nuclei expelled by the volcanic eruption.

Source: EFE and RTVE