Haven't signed into your Scholastic account before?
Teachers, not yet a subscriber?
Subscribers receive access to the website and print magazine.
You are being redirecting to Scholastic's authentication page...
Announcements & Tutorials
Explore our NEW Text Set: Celebrating Black History and Voices!
How Students and Families Can Log In
1 min.
Setting Up Student View
Sharing Articles with Your Students
2 min.
Interactive Activities
4 min.
Sharing Videos with Students
Using Scholastic News with Educational Apps
5 min.
Join Our Facebook Group!
Exploring the Archives
Powerful Differentiation Tools
3 min.
Planning With the Pacing Guide
Subscriber Only Resources
Access this article and hundreds more like it with a subscription to Scholastic News magazine.
Article Options
Presentation View
Island on Fire
Marcos del Mazo/LightRocket via Getty Images
The Cumbre Vieja volcano erupts near a town on the island of La Palma.
Smoke fills the air. Fountains of lava shoot thousands of feet into the sky. A river of fiery rock flows over roads. Scenes like these have been common on the island of La Palma since September 19. That’s when the Cumbre Vieja (KOOM-breh vee-AY-hah) volcano erupted for the first time in 50 years.
Jim McMahon/Mapman®
La Palma is one of the Canary Islands. The island chain off the northwest coast of Africa is a territory of Spain. Since Cumbre Vieja roared back to life, more than 7,500 people have been forced to evacuate their homes. No one has been seriously injured, but about 2,000 buildings have been destroyed by the flow of red-hot lava.
The seven main islands of the Canary Islands were all formed by volcanoes. Researcher David Calvo studies volcanic activity in the region. He explains that experts predict how long an eruption will last based on the number of earthquakes in the area. Another indicator is the amount of a gas called sulfur dioxide that the volcano releases. Based on recent tests, Calvo says, “it looks like it’s going to be active for a long time.”