Teide National Park

Every day, at sunrise and sunset, Teide projects its majestic silhouette over the seas of the islands, a phenomenon known as the Shadow of Teide.

Pico del Teide (3,718 m) is the highest peak in the National Park and the highest peak in Spain. Teide is a volcanic formation located on top of an ancient and gigantic calderiform depression formed by two semi-calderas, separated by the Roques de García.

In reality, Teide and Pico Viejo are formed by the accumulation of volcanic materials from successive eruptions. Chahorra or Pico Viejo has a crater 800 m in diameter and an altitude of 3,100 m, and the summit of Teide is formed by an old crater, La Rambleta, 850 m in diameter and 3,565 m high, from which emerges the “Pilón de Azúcar”, a point that culminates in a crater 80 m in diameter and 3,718 m high. The latter still presents residual activity in the form of fumaroles and solfataras at a temperature of 85ºC. A landscape of contrasts

The Teide National Park is located in a tremendously spectacular environment, totally integrated in a volcanic landscape, where the sunlight plays masterfully with the different colours of the lapilli and lava. In the shadow of the Teide grows a universe of plants and animals that is unique in the world, and its landscapes are a true geological treasure, which is reason enough to demand its protection and conservation.

Approximately seven and a half million years ago, the island of Tenerife emerged from the bottom of the ocean. Gradually, due to strong volcanic activity, a pyramid-shaped structure was formed. From a depth of tens of kilometres, magma rises and, with it, countless eruptions that have caused the island to grow.

Subsequently, the summit of the island is destroyed and disappears, leaving in its place an enormous hollow from which, in its northern part, the present-day Teide and its associated complex of volcanoes emerge. The inner edge of the enormous depression is known as the “wall of the Cañadas”. In this great amphitheatre of 16 km in diameter, dozens of horizontal lava flows, ash packages, dykes and all kinds of volcanic products are exposed, leaving an almost vertical wall visible.

The base of the depression has been filled with all kinds of recent materials. We find malpaises, which are large expanses of abrupt lava called “aa”, areas where you can hardly walk. On rare occasions, we find smooth, flat surfaces that constitute the types of lavas known as “pahoehoe”, which means “lavas that you can walk on barefoot”. Their surface is reminiscent of the flow of a large mass of melted cheese that has been allowed to solidify. There are also large masses of pumice stones that cover and even out the uneven terrain.

A gully is a light yellow sedimentary plain, normally located at the foot of the cirque walls, where all the material eroded from the escarpments accumulates. Some, such as Ucanca, can be up to 3 km in diameter, and it is not uncommon for small fleeting lakes to form in winter. The ravines are the ones that channelled the transit of men and livestock before the area was converted into a Park.

The cirque of Las Cañadas is one of the largest calderas in the world, with an elliptical shape, 16 km of major axis, 10 km of minor axis and 45 km of perimeter. The lava from the various eruptions has filled extensive areas of the old caldera with volcanic materials of all kinds, forming a spectacular landscape with a chaotic appearance.

Thus, one can observe rounded volcanoes with yellowish and whitish tones due to the accumulation of pumice stone, as in the case of Montaña Blanca, or cones of ash and picón with dark tones ranging from reddish to black due to the different oxidation processes over time, such as Montaña Mostaza. The lava flows sometimes form scoria fields called malpaises, others fall down the slope or overhang older volcanoes forming tongues, and others break up into huge blocks, as in the case of the Valle de las Piedras Arrancadas, near Montaña Rajada, where obsidian, a shiny black volcanic glass, is abundant.

Origin of Las Cañadas

So much accumulation of materials, so much volcanic activity after the formation of the caldera, make it extremely difficult to determine its origin. Its genesis is still the subject of passionate debate among specialists, although, whatever its origin, it must have taken place some 180,000 years ago.

The most widely accepted hypothesis until the early 1990s was that of subsidence as the fundamental cause, which assumes that it is a caldera with two semi-calderas, an eastern and a western one separated by the Roques de García and formed by subsidence and collapse.

However, research into the subsoil of the island and studies of the seabed and submarine relief in recent years have confirmed the hypothesis maintained by the Tenerife geologist and geographer Telesforo Bravo since 1962: both Las Cañadas del Teide and the valleys of La Orotava and Güímar are depressions formed by large gravitational landslides of more than 100 cubic kilometres of part of the island.

The truth is that the intense volcanism generated as a consequence of the hecatomb then went through a series of periods in which the different volcanic products that we see today accumulated. The end of this cycle is the clogging of the caldera to current levels and the formation of the present-day Teide.

Volcanic activity is still going on today, both around the park and inside it. The last eruptions were those of the Narices del Teide, SW of Pico Viejo, in 1798, and Volcán de Fasnia, in 1705, both within the National Park, and further NW, that of Chinyero, in 1909.

The Roques de García

One of the most popular and most visited sites in the National Park are the Roques de García. They are an alignment of large rock formations, the remains of the ancient summit of the island, before the Las Cañadas caldera was formed, and which water and wind have been responsible for giving them whimsical shapes over the centuries.

The Roque Cinchado stands out among them. From the existing viewpoint you can see the spectacular endorheic plain “Llano de Ucanca”, the largest ravine in the National Park. Nearby is the Los Azulejos formation, which is striking for its blue-greenish colour due to the chemical alteration of the rock.

The rainwater that falls on the malpaises disappears quickly, as infiltration and evapotranspiration are very high.

On the other hand, on the slopes of the Circo, rainfall produces a high runoff that drags materials to the plains, which remain flooded for several days, as the soils are covered with very fine and compacted materials.

There are several springs within the boundaries of the Teide National Park, with fresh water and low dissolved salt content. The highest spring is located at the height of the Cueva del Hielo, above Altavista at an altitude of 3,350 m. The Cueva del Hielo itself has a fresh water spring with a low content of dissolved salts. The Cueva del Hielo itself has permanent water, as it has a frozen substratum all year round. Another spring between Pico Viejo and Teide, the “Fuente de los Cazadores”, also has a frozen substratum protected from melting by the badlands. In Guajara there is another fountain with a sufficient flow to supply the Parador de Turismo. The springs of La Grieta have also been used since the last century by beekeepers and hunters, and today supply the hamlet of El Portillo.

Above the mysterious sea of clouds that covers the slopes of Mount Teide, in winter and summer, rainfall is always scarce, around 400 mm. of precipitation per year and snowfall for approximately fifteen days a year, which, due to the low temperatures and heavy night frosts, keep the Park snow-covered for several months of the year. This scarcity of precipitation indicates a very marked drought.

On the hottest days, temperatures reach 34ºC, which can drop sharply to minus 16ºC at night during the winter. In addition, there are large daily temperature fluctuations of up to 12ºC, which, together with the high number of frost days, which can reach 100, may be due to the intense irradiation that occurs in such a clear atmosphere. Average monthly temperatures vary from 4.6ºC (January) to 18.3ºC (August), with an annual average of 10.9ºC.

In addition to these extreme conditions, there are strong, gusty winds, sometimes gusting at speeds of 200 km/h, making it difficult to imagine any kind of life surviving in such inhospitable and beautiful surroundings.

During the cold season it is not uncommon to come across a curious phenomenon, which the locals call “cencellada”, and which consists of large ice crystals of up to 15 centimetres occupying the leaves of plants.

The climate of the National Park is conditioned by the extreme conditions of altitude, strong sunshine and thermal variation. It can be defined as a sub-alpine continental climate, very different from that prevailing in the lower and middle areas of the island.