WATCH: First images of solidified lava on La Palma seabed

WATCH: First images of solidified lava on La Palma seabed

The Spanish Institute of Oceanography and the CSIC have shared online the first images to be recorded underwater showing the state of the Cumbre Vieja volcano lava. They have video footage taken of the magma mass that has been solidifying after falling into the sea, where it has formed a huge lava delta, or ‘fajana’.

September 28 saw the first stream of lava tumbling from the cliffs into the Atlantic, and to date, there is an area of dozens of hectares accumulated in the ocean. As the video shows, all signs of sea life have been eliminated in the immediate vicinity of the fajana, leaving it uninhabited.

It is just over one month now since the lava started to form and solidify there on the seabed. Initial fears that the massive platform could collapse and cause huge waves have now been dispelled, as the mass appears to be quite stable, according to the scientists.

Experts from the CSIC and the Spanish Institute of Oceanography affirm that the seabed has already begun to transform as a result of the lava deposit. “Underwater lava generates new substrate, with a great variety of shapes: pillows, tubes, cooling corrugations, polygonal cracks, clastites”, they posted on Twitter.

Scientists have reported they are taking more images and “samples of sediments and rocks with the ROV Liropus”, to help them investigate the evolution of the fajana, as reported by 20minutos.es.

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