Fajã do Cumbre Vieja already owns more than 40 hectares and is threatening to collapse

a andjaja generated by entering the sea of ​​lava expelled by the Cumbre Vieja volcano continues to grow and already has more than 40 hectares and threatens to breakSpain’s Ministry of National Security reported.

The volcano began its activity on September 19 and the magma flow reached the sea in the Tazacorte region around midnight on Tuesday 28 September, and activity is now increasing again.

Contact of lava, at more than a thousand degrees Celsius, with sea water, at about 20 degrees, caused the appearance of a cloud of acid gases, forcing them to confine the closest inhabitants, and immediately began to create a peninsula, elongating the island.

The lava pile resulted in the so-called fajã, the name given to the flat peninsula created in the islands of Macaronesia (Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands and Cape Verde) by lava entering the sea.

There are two famous fagas in La Palma, the French and the Barlavento, but there are other terrains imposed on the sea by The eruption of the San Juan volcano in 1949Which has become a fertile field for the cultivation of banana trees.

The last known eruption before the current eruption was an eruption Teneguía volcano in 1971, which lasted 24 days and invaded from the sea an area of ​​​​2 square kilometers that is known today as Echentive Beach.

Cumbre Vieja fajã is still forming and unstable. Experts estimate that it has already crossed the island shelf and as the lava flow continues, it is sinking deeper and this threatens to break the delta front, which, if this happens, could create a sharp cloud of toxic and hydromagnetic eruptions, the authorities warned.

growing peninsula It is already located more than 500 meters from the coast and at a depth of 30 meters.

NS The increase of land to the island is, oddly enough, the property of the Spanish stateIt forms part of the national geological heritage and is therefore subject to the Natural Heritage and Biodiversity Law

The total surface affected by magma on the island of Palma, in the Canary Islands, already exceeds 471 hectares, 36 kilometers in circumference and 1250 meters in maximum width, including 120 hectares of cultivated land, mostly banana trees.

The latest data on losses indicate At least 726 buildings were destroyed by lava and 128 partially damaged. More than 33 kilometers of roads were affected, including 26.47 kilometers completely covered with lava.

The European Copernicus satellite service estimates Over 4800 hectares of land covered with volcanic ash.

The volcano continues to expel large amounts of lava, and given the current seismic activity recorded at Cumbre Vieja, more than 100 small-scale earthquakes in 24 hours, experts admit that there may be new magma outlets.

The main cone has receded resulting in an increase in the expelled lava, which appears to be more fluid and is causing fears of altering the course of current flows, experts warned.