Nannofossils from El Hierro place the Canaries closer to Hawaii
Wednesday, January 28, 2015 - 12:20
in Earth & Climate
Pieces of sediment from the Cretaceous period encased in lava floated to the surface with the underwater eruption of El Hierro in 2011, bringing scientists valuable data on the islands' ocean floor. The analysis of the materials matches the origin of the Canary Islands archipelago to the model of how Hawaii was formed and confirms that the oldest islands are found to the east and the youngest to the west.