Volcanic Caves of Lanzarote: A Natural Laboratory for Understanding Volcano-Speleogenetic Processes and Planetary Caves

Inception and Evolution of La Corona Lava Tube System (Lanzarote, Canary Islands, Spain)

“…This suggests that, at the time of the eruption and therefore of the emplacement of the lava tube, the sea was in a phase of regression and the coastline was about 80–120 m lower than today. Thus, the eruption took place while the marine platform was a dry land (Carracedo et al., 2003; Sauro et al., 2019). This emplacement framework is coherent with the paleoclimatic data collected by Labeyrie et al.…”

“…The last ∼1.7 km of the tube are submerged below sea level, because of the marine transgression that occurred after the LGM (∼21 ka; Bard et al., 1990; Labeyrie et al., 1987). The most accessible and walkable portions of the tube are stretched over six sections (Figure 3): (a) Jameo de los Prendes—Jameo de la Gente (∼1,170 m); (b) Jameo de la Gente—Jameo de la Puerta Falsa (∼1,165 m); (c) Jameo de la Puerta Falsa—Jameo de los Verdes (∼1,290 m) and (d) Jameo de los Lagos/Perdido (∼730 m); (e) los Jameos del Agua (∼350 m); (f) Tùnel de la Atlantìda (Carracedo et al., 2003; Isler, 1989; Mendo and Ortega, 1988; Montoriol‐Pous and De Mier, 1969; Sauro et al., 2019; Smith, 2010, Figure 4).…”

“…Despite this different scaling, the largest lava tubes on Earth are considered to be very useful analogs to their extra-terrestrial counterparts. In this regard, the La Corona lava tube in Lanzarote (Canary Islands) is of particular relevance, with a total length of about ∼7.6 km (∼9.7 km of total cave development) and a width reaching up to ∼28 m for some of its sections (Bravo, 1964;Carracedo et al, 2003;Montoriol-Pous and De Mier, 1969;Sauro et al, 2019Sauro et al, , 2020. It represents one of the largest pyroducts known on Earth, being comparable, in terms of volume, only to a few others such as the Kazumura Cave of Kilauea Volcano in Hawaiʻi (Allred and Allred, 1997;Kempe, 2012), the Undara System in Queensland (AUS) (Atkinson et al, 1975), the Víðgelmir and Bùri in Iceland (Detay et al, 2011;Water, 2006;Wood, 1974) and others in Arizona and Utah (Bunnell, 2013).…”

The PANGAEA mineralogical database

“…Combined together, the mineral catalog, cross-validated multi-spectral archives, and multivariate classification software (not included in this data archive) will enable fast, reliable recognition of rocks and minerals in-situ, something that is crucial for decision support in future human and robotic planetary surface exploration missions. The Summary Catalog section of the Mineralogical Database has been integrated into the PANGAEA Electronic FieldBook (EFB) and used successfully for geological training during the PANGAEA astronaut training course [ 8 , 9 ]. In the future, it could be used for human planetary exploration missions, as well as for in-situ identification of minerals during the terrestrial fieldwork.…”

“…The Summary Catalog section of the Mineralogical Database has been integrated into the PANGAEA Electronic FieldBook (EFB) and used successfully for geological training during the PANGAEA astronaut training course [ 8 , 9 ]. In the future, it could be used for human planetary exploration missions, as well as for in-situ identification of minerals during the terrestrial fieldwork.…”