Teide (Mount
Teide or Pico del Teide)
is a volcano and mountain on Tenerife,
Canary Islands (28.27 N, 16.6 W).
At 3717 m above sea level and approximately
7000 m above the adjacent sea bed,
it is the highest mountain in Spain,
the highest mountain in any Atlantic
island, and the third largest volcano
on Earth. Due to its eruptive history
and location close to population centres,
the volcano has been designated a
Decade Volcano worthy of close study
to prevent future natural disasters.
It is currently dormant, having last
erupted in 1909 from the subsidiary
vent of Chinyero on the west slope
of Teide. Other significant eruptions
occurred in 1704–1706 and 1798.
The summit has a number of small active
fumaroles emitting hot sulfur dioxide
and other gases. Further eruptions
are considered likely in the future,
including a risk of highly dangerous
pyroclastic flows similar to those
on Mount Pelée and Mount Vesuvius.
Teide is a modern name given by the
Spanish, the name given to the volcano
was Echeyde by the native Guanches,
prior to the Spanish colonization.
Echeyde, in the Guanches legends,
meant some sort of powerful figure
leaving the volcano that could turn
into hell. At Centuries XVIII and
XIX it was called Mount Pico too.
That is the reason for the existence
of Mons Pico at the Moon, in Montes
Teneriffe (by side of Mare Imbrium).[3]
Pico de Teide from Cañada
de los Guancheros at 2050 m at
the northeast edge of the caldera.
The yellowish foreground is pumice
gravel, with Retama del Teide
shrubs. Cloud blowing in on the
northeast trade wind is normal
between about 1,000–2,000
m altitude; here, the very top
of the cloud evaporates rapidly
as it enters the warm, dry, sun-heated
caldera. Note also the thawing
winter snow cover on the upper
slopes. Photo early April.
At sunrise the triangular
shadow of the Pico De Teide extends
124 miles across the Atlantic Ocean
and thus form the world's longest
shadow. The mountain is a snow-capped
volcano that dominated Tenerife in
the Canary islands. It has two craters,
the more recent cone-shaped peak sitting
inside a caldea created by earlier
activity. The new crater is 100 feet
deep and sulfurous gasestill seep
out from its floor. In 1705, an eruption
from this crater buried the port of
Garachio with ash and lava. Then in
1909, a vent on its side produced
a three mile long stream of lava that
flowed down its northwest slopes toward
villages on the coast. The volcano
was known to the original inhabitants
of Tenerife as "The Peak of Hell."
[3]
Today visitors can approach
the mountain by road, and a cable
car takes people to within a half-hour's
steep zigzag walk through a barren
lava field to the crater. On the
way, walkers pass an ice filled
crevasse known as the Cuevo del
Hielo, and have views of the neighboring
volcano Pico Viego.
The
snow-capped summit of Teide
in December 2004[4]
Pico de Teide, officially
the highest mountain in Spain, is actually
on Tenerife in the Canary Islands. It
is a popular tourist destination since
there is a cable car most of the way
up. Although it would be perfectly possible
to walk up from sea level over two or
three days, most walkers, like those
riding the cable car, will commence
their ascent from the crater of Las
Cañadas at an altitude of about
2350m. The path starts about 3km east
of the cablecar station, starting as
a rough road and then steepening in
zigzags to reach the Refugio de Altavista
which was locked when we were there
even though it was August. The next
landmark is a cave, really just a crevasse
in the lava, on the right of the path
which is filled with ice even in the
height of summer. The path winds up
through moonscape lava fields and eventually
swings across to the top station of
the cablecar where you join the masses
on quite a steep ascent to the top.[3]
Sunrise 7/2/2008
on the vulcano 'Pico de Teide' Tenerife.
