Rift zone reorganization through flank instability in ocean island volcanoes: an example from Tenerife, Canary Islands

The relationship between rift zones and flank instability in ocean island volcanoes is often inferred but rarely documented. Our field data, aerial image analysis, and ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar chronology from Anaga basaltic shield volcano on Tenerife, Canary Islands, support a rift zone—flank instability relationship. A single rift zone dominated the early stage of the Anaga edifice (~6-4.5 Ma). Destabilization of the northern sector led to partial seaward collapse at about ~4.5 Ma, resulting in a giant landslide. The remnant highly fractured northern flank is part of the destabilized sector. A curved rift zone developed within and around this unstable sector between 4.5 and 3.5 Ma. Induced by the dilatation of the curved rift, a further rift-arm developed to the south, generating a three-armed rift system. This evolutionary sequence is supported by elastic dislocation models that illustrate how a curved rift zone accelerates flank instability on one side of a rift, and facilitates dike intrusions on the opposite side. Our study demonstrates a feedback relationship between flank instability and intrusive development, a scenario probably common in ocean island volcanoes. We therefore propose that ocean island rift zones represent geologically unsteady structures that migrate and reorganize in response to volcano flank instability.