Earthquakes continue on El Hierro

Since last Saturday (20th August 2011) and 19:05 on Monday 22nd August 2011, El Hierro has experienced a total of 56 earthquakes of low intensity, according to the National Geographic Institute (IGN). The movements ranged mostly between 1.5 and 2.1 degrees on the Richter scale and the sources of seismic activity are located around 10 kilometers deep. The last to be recorded was at 1:31 pm on Monday 22nd August 2011, also in La Frontera, and registered 1.9 magnitude on the Richter scale and was detected about seven miles deep. During last Saturday there were a total of four and on Sunday there were twenty-two. The director of the Spanish Seismic Network, Emilio Carreno has said that to date the movements are related to tectonic origin and are non-volcanic. He went on to say that “There have been other years when there has been a continuous series and then they have stopped. As there is a lot of energy released in the sense that it takes time with earthquakes, the activity does not cease immediately in a rough manner,” he explained. So far, the earthquakes that have occurred in El Hierro have oscillated in around 2 degrees on the Richter scale and there is no evidence that this kind of magnitude will increase. He also said that “this situation should not cause concern because the depth is maintained and that if they were related to some aspect of volcanic type (movement of magma) the depth would vary”.

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