CARRACEDO, J. C. & DAY, S. 2002. Canary Islands. Classic Geology in Europe Series Volume 4. viii + 294 pp. Harpenden: Terra Publishing. Price £14.95 (paperback). ISBN 1 903544 07 6

Abstract

The Canary Islands in the Northeast Atlantic are a wonderful place to study volcanic, structural and sedimentological aspects of ocean island volcanoes. Their geology is varied and superbly exposed, with over fourteen million years of submarine and subaerial, effusive and explosive volcanic activity, intrusion, caldera collapse, landslides, and erosion recorded. Visitors should not be put off by the recent over-sensationalist TV documentaries predicting future landslides and the inundation of Florida and New York by tsunami! The presence of voluminous felsic explosive products, sediments and uplifted submarine successions, make the Canaries more varied than the Hawaiian islands with which they are often compared. With low-cost flights, accommodation and car-hire, they have become particularly accessible to northern Europeans. To my knowledge Canary Islands is the only field guidebook that attempts to cover the geology of all seven main islands in the Canary archipelago. This is an ambitious remit, and the authors …