Lava Will Keep Piling Up

The current eruption of Cumbre Vieja has already surpassed the last eruption on La Palma. Ángel Victor Torres, regional leader of the Canary Islands, said that 80 million cubic meters of lava have emerged from this eruption so far, doubling a 1971 eruption that hit the island. Lava is already piling up hundreds of feet thick in some locations. And with the new fissures, more of the landscape—and people’s lives—could be permanently altered.