Key takeaways
- Six years of volcanic activity reshaped northern Lanzarote. The 1730-1736 eruptions created the black landscape you'll drive across today.
- Picón is volcanic cinder, the dark porous rock fragments ejected during eruptions. It covers the malpaís and gives the soil its distinctive black colour.
- The Famara mountains in the north are significantly older than the southern lava fields, shaped by different geological periods and eruption cycles.
- Lanzarote remains volcanically active. The island continues to experience seismic activity, reminding us the volcanic story is not yet finished.
- Red, ochre and green hues appear where minerals oxidised and weathered. These colours reveal the chemical composition and age of different lava flows.
The Eruptions of 1730 to 1736
In September 1730, the ground beneath northern Lanzarote began to shake. A volcanic fissure opened near the village of Timanfaya, and for six years, the island experienced one of Europe's most sustained eruptions. Lava flowed across the landscape in waves, burying villages, farmland, and the lives of those who had lived there for generations. The eruption destroyed at least nine settlements, including Femés, Mareta, and Yaiza. Thousands of islanders fled to safety as rivers of molten rock, some moving at walking pace, remade the map of the island. By the time the volcanic activity ceased in 1736, approximately 200 square kilometres of new land had been created from solidified lava, fundamentally reshaping Lanzarote's geography and economy.
The lava that poured across the island during those six years came from deep within the Earth's crust, and as it cooled and hardened, it created the volcanic terrain that your buggy will traverse today. The eruptions were not violent explosions but rather steady flows of basaltic lava, a type of rock that flows like thick honey when molten. This continuous activity meant that the landscape was transformed layer by layer, creating a complex geology that tells the story of fire and time to anyone willing to read it.
Picón: The Black Volcanic Soil That Changed Farming
One of the eruptions' most unexpected gifts was a fine, porous volcanic rock called picón. As lava cooled and fragmented, it broke into pieces ranging from sand to gravel size, creating a black layer that now covers much of northern Lanzarote. This material, also known as lapilli, has a unique property: it absorbs moisture from the air and retains it, creating a natural water reservoir in the soil itself. Lanzarote's farmers discovered that by spreading picón over their fields, they could grow crops in an otherwise arid climate where rainfall is scarce.
The black soil became the foundation of Lanzarote's agricultural recovery after the eruptions. Farmers planted vines in semicircular pits lined with picón, and the volcanic stone's moisture-holding properties allowed the grapes to thrive in the dry Atlantic climate. Today, this traditional farming method survives in Lanzarote's wine regions, and the distinctive black soil remains visible across the island. As you drive over the buggy course, you will see this dark landscape stretching toward the horizon, a testament to how islanders transformed geological disaster into agricultural innovation.
Black picón crust beneath buggy wheels on ancient lava
The Ancient Famara Massif: Older Than the Eruptions
Not all of Lanzarote's volcanic rock is the same age. The Famara massif, a range of mountains in the north of the island, is significantly older than the lava fields created in the 1730s eruptions. Geologists estimate that the Famara massif formed during earlier volcanic episodes, potentially millions of years ago, making it one of the oldest geological features on the island. This age difference is visible in the rock itself: the Famara cliffs and ridges show different weathering, different mineral content, and a different character from the younger, darker lava fields that surround them.
The contrast between old and young volcanic rock tells a story of Lanzarote's geological history. While the 1730s eruptions created the dark landscape of picón and black lava, the Famara massif stands as a reminder that volcanic activity has shaped this island over a much longer timescale. On your buggy tour, you will see how the northern landscape is layered in both space and time, with ancient peaks rising above younger lava plains.
La Corona and the Hidden Lava Tube
La Corona volcano, located in the northern part of Lanzarote, is notable not for a dramatic crater but for the lava tube that runs beneath it. A lava tube forms when the outer surface of flowing lava cools and solidifies while molten lava continues to flow inside, eventually draining away and leaving a hollow tunnel. La Corona's lava tube is one of the most extensive and accessible examples on the island, and it provides a direct window into how lava moved beneath the surface during the eruptions. The tube extends for considerable distances underground, and in some sections, the walls still show the smooth, rippled texture created by flowing lava.
The formation of La Corona's lava tube reveals the mechanical power of volcanic eruptions. The tube was created not by explosion but by the patient, relentless flow of lava beneath a cooling crust. Today, the area surrounding La Corona offers insights into the internal structure of volcanic landscapes, showing how eruptions shape not just the surface but the hidden channels beneath.
1730
Six years of continuous eruption reshaped the entire island between 1730 and 1736.
Lanzarote's Resemblance to Mars and the Moon
Geologists and planetary scientists have noted striking similarities between Lanzarote's lava fields and the volcanic landscapes of Mars and the Moon. The dark, rocky terrain, the absence of vegetation in many areas, and the stark colours created by different mineral compositions make Lanzarote a natural laboratory for studying extraterrestrial geology. The landscape offers insights into how volcanic planets evolve and how their surfaces change over time. Film production companies have recognized this similarity, and Lanzarote has served as a stand-in for alien worlds in numerous science fiction productions, from major studio films to television series and documentaries.
The comparison to Mars is not merely poetic. Both worlds experienced extensive volcanic activity, and both left behind similar geological signatures: vast lava plains, ancient craters, and mineral-rich rocks that speak to a fiery past. By studying Lanzarote's volcanoes and understanding how its landscape formed, scientists gather knowledge that informs their interpretation of planetary geology across the solar system. The buggy tour takes you across terrain that mirrors, in miniature and in reality, the alien worlds that exist millions of kilometres away.
Why Plants Struggle in the Malpaís
The volcanic landscape created by the 1730s eruptions is called malpaís, which means 'bad land' in Spanish. The name reflects a simple reality: plants struggle to grow on raw, exposed lava rock. The reasons are multiple and interconnected. Lava provides no organic matter, no nutrients that plants require to establish themselves. The rock surface is rough and jagged, offering little purchase for roots to penetrate. Moisture drains away quickly through the porous lava, leaving the soil dry. The black rock also absorbs heat intensely, creating microclimates that are too hot for many plant species.
Over time, pioneering plants begin to colonize the malpaís. Lichens arrive first, slowly breaking down the rock and creating the beginnings of soil. As organic matter accumulates, hardy shrubs and eventually larger plants establish themselves. However, in the youngest lava fields, where the 1730s eruptions were most extensive, this process is still ongoing. The sparse vegetation you will see during your buggy tour reflects both the challenges of growing in volcanic terrain and the remarkable resilience of life in extreme environments.
The Mineral Colors: Red, Ochre, and Green
The rocks visible across Lanzarote's volcanic landscape display a surprising range of colors, from deep black to vivid red, ochre, and even greenish tones. These colors are not random but are determined by the mineral composition and oxidation state of the rock. Black basaltic lava contains iron and magnesium. When iron in the rock oxidizes, it can turn red or ochre, creating the rust-colored rocks visible in many areas. Some rocks display greenish tones due to the presence of olivine, an iron-magnesium silicate mineral that forms in cooling lava. Other colors arise from deposits of minerals rich in copper or other elements, each one a marker of the chemical conditions that existed when the lava cooled.
As you drive across the buggy tour route, the changing colors of the rock beneath you tell a story of chemistry and time. A red rock might indicate that water has been percolating through it for decades, oxidizing the iron minerals within. A green olivine-rich section speaks to slightly different cooling conditions and composition. The black lava is the freshest, geologically speaking, while the colorful rocks are older and more weathered. Reading these colors is a way of understanding Lanzarote's geological narrative, written in mineral form across the landscape.
