The National Geographic Institute (IGN) has reported a series of six earthquakes that occurred within an hour in the Enmedio volcano area, located between Tenerife and Gran Canaria. These earthquakes, recorded between 11:14 and 11:40 a.m. yesterday, had magnitudes ranging from 2.6 to 2 mbLg, with depths varying from 26 to 38 kilometres.
Itahiza Domínguez, director of the IGN in the Canary Islands, stated that it is “still too early to know what might happen,” but he reassured that the area is far from populated zones and “should not pose any danger.” It remains uncertain whether this seismic activity is related to the 3.8 magnitude earthquake that struck Gran Canaria the previous day.
Domínguez acknowledged that the recent earthquake was stronger than typically observed in that region, being the largest in the past 60 years. He also noted that similar earthquakes occur every few years in Gran Canaria and its surrounding areas. He recalled a significant earthquake in 1913 with an intensity of VI, which IGN estimates could have been around a magnitude of 4.5.
Domínguez, a seismologist, suggested that the recent activity is likely an isolated event, as it only had a single aftershock 50 minutes later, measuring 1.4 mbLg. He dismissed any link to volcanic activity, explaining that volcanic earthquakes usually appear in “dense swarms,” with tens or even hundreds occurring in an hour.
Regarding the seismicity around the Enmedio volcano, Domínguez mentioned the IGN’s ongoing Guanche Project, which aims to better understand the nature of these earthquakes. The main challenge lies in their depth, occurring deep within the Earth’s mantle. The current hypothesis suggests that this seismic activity is more related to crustal stresses than to the volcano itself. The Enmedio volcano’s formation history—whether from one or multiple eruptions—and its most recent activity remain unknown.
Additionally, last Tuesday, a 3.8 magnitude earthquake was recorded off the north coast of Gran Canaria, near Santa María de Guía, at 7:20 p.m. This tremor was felt in 14 of the island’s 21 municipalities. The quake occurred at a depth of 20 kilometres and was felt by the population, though no significant incidents were reported, according to 1-1-2 Canarias.
Both the IGN and the Canary Islands Volcanological Institute (Involcan) detected the quake, but with slight discrepancies in measurements: the IGN recorded the epicentre at 20 kilometres deep, while Involcan placed it at 14 kilometres, between Agaete and Valleseco, with a magnitude of 3.5.
Following the tremor, numerous people took to social media to share their experiences. Lou JN from Marmolejos said, “My dogs went crazy, and I felt it too.” In Agaete, the quake was felt strongly, with Juana Bermúdez describing it as “a thunderclap heard beneath the ground, and everything shook.” Others, like Alexis López, compared the rumble to “the roar of a goal in the Heliodoro stadium.”
