La Palma eruption update 25th December 2021: PEVOLCA officially declares the end of the eruption

La Palma eruption – 25th December 2021

Daily summary

Volcanic tremor and other observables continued at background levels, allowing PEVOLCA to declare the end of the eruption today, as lasting from 15:11 local time on the 19th September, to December 13th at 10:21 local time, giving a total duration of 85 days and 8 hours. This makes the eruption the longest active in historical times on the island. PEVOLCA reminds the population however that end of the eruption does not mean the end of the dangers from the volcano, and that declaring the end of this eruption is not the same as declaring the end of the magmatic reactivation in Cumbre Vieja.

Some final statistics of the eruption include 528 scientific staff involved in the emergency response, with 55 from IGN, 31 from IGME, 63 from CSIC, 24 from IEO, 143 from INVOLCAN, 146 from ULL, 31 from ULPGC and 35 from AEMET. The volcanic cone peaks at around 200m high, the lava flows peak at 70m thick and on average are 12m thick on average, covering 1,219 hectares including 48 hectares of new land. The maximum height of the eruptive column was 8,500m above sea level although the average was closer to 3,500m. 7,000 people were evacuated, with 559 of those still living in hotels. In total, 1676 buildings were destroyed according to the land registry, although Copernicus EMS estimated 2888 buildings had been destroyed

Deformation remains stable across the network, and 9 earthquakes were recorded, peaking at M2.5 with 6 <M2.0, largely at intermediate (<20 km) depths. The level of SO2 emissions from the plume were maintained from the previous days, registering a low (50-500 tonnes per day) value. PEVOLCA continues to explain these emissions are due to the solidification of superficial magma in the conduits, rather than magma ascent. quality remains good in all stations with respect to SO2 concentrations, and between good to reasonably good in all stations with respect to PM10 concentrations.

(Above) A video taken from the northeast of the degassing main cone of the eruption, showing the extent of the lava flow as seen from this vantage point. Video credit: CSIC

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

Lava flows

Earthquakes

Exclusion zone map

Exclusion zones shown here have been approximated from press releases from the Cabildo de La Palma and will not be exact, nor claim to be official maps of the exclusion zones. For official information, please contact the Cabildo de La Palma.

Official social media

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News articles

  • BBC News – Eruption officially declared over – here
  • El Mundo – The Christmas gift from the La Palma volcano: “The eruption is over” – here
  • 112 Canarias – The La Palma eruption in numbers – here

To see our full news archive, visit our open data section or click here.

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News and Interviews

Witness Testimonies

Interactive Lava Flow Map

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Interactive Earthquake Map

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