Fossil beaches as evidence for significant uplift of Tenerife, Canary Islands

Numerous uplifted fossil beaches have been described for the Eastern Canary Islands; only a few publications on these uplift markers exist, however, for Tenerife Island. We found fossil beaches at an altitude of about 10.5 m above present sea-level in the Anaga Mountains in the northeast of Tenerife. In the south of Tenerife four localities with fossil beach deposits can be found up to a height of 65 m above sea-level. An additional uplift marker, represented by a submerged developed tuff cone, has been discovered in the south of Tenerife, thereby indicating uplift during the past ∼300 ka. The altitude of the fossil beaches and the tuff cone above the present sea-level cannot merely be explained by fluctuations in the sea-level. The uplift markers suggest an asymmetrical uplift of the island complex with no distinct uplift in the northeast but significant uplift rates, to a maximum of 45 m during the last 11 ka, in the south of Tenerife. The uplift of the southern part of Tenerife was probably caused by ascending magma.