Volcanic Geology of São Miguel Island (Azores Archipelago)

The Azores archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean is composed of nine volcanic islands and São Miguel is the largest and most volcanically active. During the past 5000 years several eruptions have taken place on the three active central volcanoes – Sete Cidades, Fogo and Furnas – and in the basaltic fissure systems of Picos and Congro. There is evidence that Furnas was in eruption when the first settlers arrived some time between 1439 and 1443. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries there were two explosive sub-Plinian eruptions, Fogo in 1563 and Furnas in 1630. The last eruption on land occurred in the Picos Fissural Volcanic System in 1652, involving the extrusion of lava domes. In 22 chapters, this volume considers the volcanic geology of the island under the headings of geological setting, volcanic history, geological hazards and risk assessment, volcano monitoring and natural resources.
Volcano-tectonic structures of São Miguel Island, Azores Available to Purchase
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Published:January 01, 2015
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CiteCitation
R. Carmo, J. Madeira, T. Ferreira, G. Queiroz, A. Hipólito, 2015. "Volcano-tectonic structures of São Miguel Island, Azores", Volcanic Geology of São Miguel Island (Azores Archipelago), J. L. Gaspar, J. E. Guest, A. M. Duncan, F. J. A. S. Barriga, D. K. Chester
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Abstract
The Azores archipelago is located at the triple junction between the Eurasia, Nubia and North America lithospheric plates. São Miguel Island, situated at the southeastern part of the western segment of the Azores–Gibraltar Fracture Zone, presents an east–west elongated shape, comprising three quiescent central volcanoes with summit calderas linked by zones of fissure volcanism. The eastern part of the island is older and inactive. Active faulting is represented by prominent fault scarps that constitute important extensional structures, or by linear volcanic structures in fissural volcanic zones, with a dominant NW–SE to WNW–ESE trend. Although less frequent, there are also NNW–SSE to north–south, NE–SW and east–west faults, reflected by some volcanic alignments and linear segments of the drainage system and sea cliffs. The geometric and kinematic data are in agreement with that observed in the rest of the archipelago. However, at eastern São Miguel Island data indicate two distinct groups of conjugated faults characterized by three-dimensional strain: NW–SE to WNW–ESE normal dextral structures are conjugated with NNW–SSE normal left-lateral faults and NW–SE to WNW–ESE normal left-lateral faults are conjugated with NE–SW normal dextral structures, showing the presence of two different stress fields separated in time.