Published on Coastal Processes, Hazards, and Society (https://www.e-education.psu.edu/earth107) Canary Island Landslides and Potential Megatsunami The Canary Islands are a group of seven volcanic islands that lie 100 kilometers off the coast of Africa. These islands grew over a hotspot as in the Hawaiian islands and all but one has active volcanoes. The coastlines of the Canaries are characterized by massive, steep cliffs and there has long been speculation that these features formed by dramatic collapse. What makes this possibility super significant is the fact that this process could trigger massive tsunamis that could hit the coasts of Europe, the eastern seaboard of the US, and Antarctica. In fact, speculation is that giant blocks of limestone that weigh hundreds of tons meters above sea level in the Bahamas were delivered there by a megatsunami and the Canary Island landslides are a possible culprit. And more locally, tsunami deposits found in the Canary island suggest waves in the past over 150 motors high! Cumbre Vieja is the main volcano on the island of La Paima and has erupted recently causing large cracks to grow involving the significant motion of the western volcano flank. This has caused speculation that this flank could colapse. The flank has a volume of 1.5 trillion metric tons and models suggest that if it were to collapse it would generate a tsunami 1000 m high that would be 50 m when it arrived in Europe and along the eastern coast of the US. Because this scenario would be devastating to cities including New York. Boston, and Miami as well as coastal real estate in New Jersey, North and South Carolina, and Florida, it has been rigorously investigated by scientists Satellite photo of Caldera de Taburiente and Cumbre Vieja, La Palma, Canary Islands Credit: Image Analysis Laboratory, NASA Johnson Space Center (Public Domain) Steep cliffs on the coast of La Palma. Note these are not cliffs that are predicted to fail Credit: SpaceKrisu via Shutterstockin Video: Megatsunami Scenario - La Palma Landsilde (4-48)