Locations and depth vs time plot of yesterday's quakes under La Palma
A total of 79 small quakes of magnitudes between 1-2.2 were detected during yesterday, most of them at depths around 25-30 km under the southwestern part of the island, 15 km southeast of Los Llanos de Aridane.
Many are located under the mostly submerged volcanic ridge of Cumbre Vieja, which last erupted in 1971. It seems that the swarm has already ended (unless more data will be released by the Spanish Geophysical Insitute later on).
While many might worry that such quakes could be signs of new volcanic activity, this is not very likely in the current case: The depths of the quakes place them in an area of the upper mantle layer, the so-called asthenosphere, where it behaves as ductile, soft material and contains a partial melt as magma. Above it lies the oceanic crust, on top of which the Canary island volcanoes sit.
The recent quakes, if they are volcanic in origin (which is not necessarily the case), might reflect a deep intrusion of magma in a lower storage area beneath the crust. This is a normal process for any volcano, and occurs at irregular intervals during its lifetime. They do not likely mean that an eruption is to be expected any time soon.
However, the situation merits a close eye, especially if shallower earthquakes might be detected, which then could mean magma continues rising into the crust and shallower reservoirs.
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