New volcanic eruption off El Hierro
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Xinhua, November 2, 2011
The underwater volcano off the coast of the island of El Hierro begun erupting on Monday evening, which saw it expel steaming fragments of magma to the surface of the ocean.
The volcanic activity has returned after a series of seismic events had raised fears of a second eruption following the previous volcanic activity which began on October 10.
However, it has come as a surprise given that the experts monitoring the situation had assured earlier on Monday that although another eruption was likely, it was not going to happen in the near future.
It has also been commented that any second eruption could occur off the north coast of the island, following a distortion of the crust that had been discovered in that area.
The first signs of the new eruption were a deepening of the stain in the sea which was created by the first eruption off the most westerly of the Canary Islands
Meanwhile El Hierro suffered another earth tremor of 3.9 on the Richter scale Monday night. It was the last of a series of 70 tremors registered over the course of the day and the strongest felt on the island since the start of the seismic activity.
El Hierro, an autonomous community of Spain, is the smallest and farthest south and west of the Canary Islands, in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa.
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