A spectacular cave system was created on La Palma when the Cumbre Vieja erupted. Researchers are now exploring this natural wonder made of hot rock – and are determined to preserve it.
Octavio Fernández has an unwanted break that day: “There’s a storm in the Canary Islands, so we can’t work outside,” says the cave explorer. For months, he and colleagues from IGME, the Spanish Institute of Geology and Mining, have been climbing over new landscapes on La Palma – and into its interior. The terrain they explore is the stone relic of one of the largest natural disasters to hit the holiday island in recent memory. From September to December 2021, the Tajogaite volcano, which was formed in the Cumbre Vieja mountain range, spewed large amounts of lava. The embers poured inexorably over villages, streets and orchards. Many people lost their homes, their existence, their confidence.