Geomagnetic secular variation in historical lavas from the Canary Islands

Abstract

The age of historical lava flows on the Canary Islands can be traced back at least to 1585 ad. During the last 400 years eruptions occurred at fairly regular intervals. The palaeomagnetic directions of these lavas record the ambient field direction with high precision so that an historical secular variation curve (SVC) can be constructed for the Canaries which closely resembles the curve registered at Paris. The SVC can be used as a dating tool for historical eruptions of unknown age and can probably be extended into the last 4000–5000 yr of recent volcanic activity on the Canaries.