Deep seismicity picks up on La Palma with a magnitude 5 earthquake

The seismicity on the island of La Palma -at depths greater than 20 kilometers- has rebounded in the last hours with the record this morning of a magnitude 5 earthquake in the municipality of Villa de Mazo.

As reported by the National Geographic Institute (IGN), The earthquake, which has been felt in practically the entire island, took place at 3:37 am with its epicenter in Mazo, at a depth of 37 kilometers, and with an intensity of IV-V (over a maximum of XII).

Since last september several earthquakes of magnitude 5 have been registered so far, and even one of 5.1, the most powerful of those that have occurred on the island since the seismic crisis that preceded the eruption began.

Evolution of castings

The evolution of the flows has remained stable in the last hours and their fronts have not experienced movements, with the exception of the one that reached the sea at Playa de Los Guirres during the early hours of Wednesday, beginning a new lava delta that overlaps the previous one to the north.

Vicente Soler, CSIC volcanologist, has indicated that this new plume (column) of lava is heading towards Las Manchas, but in the last hours he has lost strength “and the wind easily knocks him down.”

According to the latest data from the Council of La Palma, the total area affected by lava has already exceeded a thousand hectares, specifically 1,005.8 hectares, while maintaining a maximum width between casts of 3,100 meters.

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As for air quality, there has been an improvement in the five municipalities in the west of La Palma, where yesterday The daily fine particle threshold was not exceeded at any station on the island.

The emission of sulfur dioxide (SO2) also maintains low values ​​in general and is at good or reasonably good levels, with the exception of “some specific moment of regular air quality “in Puntagorda, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Regarding the meteorological conditions, the ash cloud moves to the west and maintains a favorable scenario for aeronautical operations.