3.7 magnitude earthquake between Tenerife and Gran Canaria

The National Geographic Institute in the Canary Islands (IGN) have reported they registered a 3.7 magnitude earthquake last night (Saturday) at 8.21pm, in the channel between Tenerife and Gran Canaria in the area known as the Enmedio Volcano.

It was recorded at a depth of 5 kilometres, and pinpointed at latitude 28.1495 and longitude -16.2443. Tremors are frequent between the two islands but are rarely above a magnitude of 2.5.

What is the Enmedio volcano?
The Enmedio volcano is an underwater volcano that is located 25.47km from the Punta Abona lighthouse on the east coast of Tenerife, and 36.2km from the village of San Nicolas which is the westernmost point of Gran Canaria.

- Height: 470 m from the sea bed.

- Base: 2.88km wide.

- Depth: the base is 2,100m below sea level.

- Very close to the main cone, there are two other small cones 100m high.

In 1989 there was one of the largest earthquakes in the area, which measured 5.2 degrees on the Richter scale, with about thirty aftershocks that were felt throughout the island of Tenerife, especially on the east coast, and to a much lesser extent on La Palma, Gran Canaria, La Gomera and El Hierro.