Something took giant bites out of Spain's island of El Hierro, leaving behind large c-shaped scarps in the landscape. This process has an interesting origin, which helps to explain the island's unusual three pronged shape. Today's video will discuss El Hierro's prehistoric massive landslides, and how they relate to volcanic rift zones. Thumbnail Photo Credit: Google Earth, Image Landsat / Copernicus, Image © 2026 Airbus, Data SIO, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO. This image was overlaid with text, and then overlaid with GeologyHub made graphics (the image border & the GeologyHub logo). If you would like to support this channel, consider using one of the following links: (Patreon: http://patreon.com/geologyhub) (YouTube membership: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYeGh5VML5XPr5jYnzh3J6g/join) (Gemstone & Mineral Etsy store: http://prospectingarizona.etsy.com) (GeologyHub Merch Etsy store: http://geologyhub.etsy.com) Google Earth imagery used in this video: ©Google & Data Providers This video is protected under "fair use". If you see an image and/or video which is your own in this video, and/or think my discussion of a scientific paper (and/or discussion/mentioning of the data/information within a scientific paper) does not fall under the fair use doctrine, and wish for it to be censored or removed, contact me by email at [email protected] and I will make the necessary changes. Various licenses used in sections of this video (not the entire video, this video as a whole does not completely fall under one of these licenses) and/or in this video's thumbnail image (and this list does not include every license used in this video and/or thumbnail image): CC BY 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode Sources/Citations: [1] Abis, C., Dajma, F., Di Capua, A., Martì Molist, J., Meletlidis, S., Norini, G., … Groppelli, G. (2023). Geology of El Hierro Southern Rift, Canary Islands, Spain. Journal of Maps, 19(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/17445647.2023.2214173 [2] INVOLCAN [3] J. E. Hunt, R. B. Wynn, P. J. Talling, and D. G. Masson (2013), Turbidite record of frequency and source of large volume (100 km3) Canary Island landslides in the last 1.5 Ma: Implications for landslide triggers and geohazards, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 14, 2100–2123, doi:10.1002/ggge.20139. https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ggge.20139. Note, YouTube does not allow the greater than sign which should be before the 100 km3 in this citation, so I added a link to the paper in question. [4] Klimeš, J.; Hussain, Y.; Mreyen, A.-S.; Cauchie, L.; Schlögel, R.; Piroton, V.; Petružálek, M.; Blahůt, J.; René, M.; Meletlidis, S.; et al. New Insights into the Internal Structures and Geotechnical Rock Properties of the Giant San Andrés Landslide, El Hierro Island, Spain. Remote Sens. 2023, 15, 1627. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs15061627, CC BY 4.0. [5] Jan Klimeš, Jorge Yepes, Laura Becerril, Michal Kusák, Inés Galindo, Jan Blahut, Development and recent activity of the San Andrés landslide on El Hierro, Canary Islands, Spain, Geomorphology, Volume 261, 2016, Pages 119-131, ISSN 0169-555X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geomorph.2016.02.018. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169555X16300526) [6] Gee, Martin & Watts, A. & Masson, Douglas & Mitchell, Neil. (2001). Landslides and the evolution of El Hierro in the Canary Islands. Marine Geology. 271-293. 10.1016/S0025-3227(01)00153-0. [7] Stemberk, Josef & Vilímek, Vít & Klimeš, Jan & Blahůt, Jan & Hartvich, Filip & Balek, Jan. (2017). Landslide Hazard and Risk Management (WCoE 2014–2017). 373-377. 10.1007/978-3-319-59469-9_32. CC BY 4.0. [8] U.S. Geological Survey 0:00 El Hierro Island 1:41 Landslide Ages 3:07 A Hypothetical 4:09 Rift Zones 5:03 Landslide Cause