The confinement of several areas on the morning of the 11^th due to the cement factory fire was lifted in the morning as the lava front has surpassed the sight and the air quality was assessed to be safe. However, further permanent evacuations of people were ordered in the morning by PEVOLCA, affecting 700-800 people in and around the settlement of La Laguna, due to the advancing lava flows to the north that affected the Callejón de la Gata industrial estate. There are two active lava flows, one that travels parallel and northwest of the original flow, and the second which prompted the new evacuation as moves very quickly. The original flows to the south, including the lava delta, remain inactive for now. Results from preliminary chemical and petrographic analyses of the lava flows and pyroclasts have been published for the first time, showing an evolution of the magma throughout the eruption from a more differentiated to a more primitive composition in the baseite-tephrite series. This is consistent with known historical eruptions on La Palma.

For other eruption parameters, volcanic tremor increased throughout the day, although deformation continues to show no patterns in the closest stations to the eruption/ Earthquake activity was similar to the previous day and was concentrated at 10-15 km depth with some deeper (20-40 km) earthquakes. 70 events were recorded, peaking at 4.1 mbLg. The ash and gas plume reached 3500 m, and the SO2 emissions from the volcano remain relatively high at 17,774 tons per day, although this is an underestimate. Meteorological conditions remain unfavourable for ashfall on the south and eastern parts of the island, including the airport. However, both SO2 and PM10 concentrations remained below threshold values at all stations throughout the day. Despite this, the Izaña Atmospheric Research Center in Tenerife registered a ‘very high’ SO2 concentration in the morning, which was also accompanied by high concentrations of PM10 particles being recorded.

A map of the earthquakes in the last 3 days. It can clearly be seen that the earthquakes are concentrated in two areas of different depths, which are thought to correspond to two different magmatic storage regions. Image credit: IGN Spain

Sources: Government of the Canary Islands, PEVOLCA, Involcan, IGN, DSN, Cabildo La Palma, 112 Canarias, Tolouse VAAC, Copernicus EMS