Geology and Minerals

Capelinhos

The Capelinhos (from Capelo + -inhos diminutive, which literally means "little cape") is a monogenetic volcano located on the western coast of Faial Island in the Azores. It is part of the larger volcanic complex of Capelo, which includes 20 scoria cones and lava fields that are aligned west-northwest to east-southeast from the Caldeira Volcano caldera. Although the name "Capelinhos" is associated with the volcano, it technically refers to the western cape of the parish of Capelo. It can be considered the westernmost point of Europe; there are more westerly islands in the Azores archipelago but they lie on the North American Plate. A volcanic eruption lasted for 13 months, from September 27, 1957 until October 24, 1958, which may have been two overlapping volcanic eruptions. While enlarging the land by 2.4 km2, it spawned 300 seismic events, hurled ash 1 km, destroyed 300 houses in the parishes of Capelo and Praia do Norte and caused the evacuation of 2,000 people (emigration to the US and Canada). On October 25, the volcano entered a period of dormancy. It is a part of an active fissural volcanic complex which creates multiple seismic and volcanic events.

Also on this shelf

See also

• ▸Bristol Lake
• ▸Dysentery
• ▸Asahi-dake

Uncatalogued shelf

Text from Wikipedia; plate via Wikimedia Commons. Text CC BY-SA 4.0; plate freely licensed (see Commons). Source record. Images and catalogue data are reproduced from open-access collections.