Terceira Rift

Terceira Island from space, 2020. The Terceira Rift passes through the island, and presumably acts as the feeder for the magma that created the island about 400,000 years ago. The most recent surface eruption was at Serra de Santa Bárbara in 1761.[1] Subsea eruptions continue, the most recent in 2000.[2]

The Terceira Rift is a geological rift located amidst the Azores islands in the Atlantic Ocean. It runs between the Azores triple junction to the west and the Azores–Gibraltar Transform Fault to the southeast. It separates the Eurasian plate to the north from the African plate to the south. The Terceira Rift is named for Terceira Island through which it passes. It crosses Terceira Island as a prominent ESE-WNW fissure zone.[2]

  1. ^ Terceira Island, Azores at NASA Earth Observatory, June 22, 2022
  2. ^ a b Volcanism Report on Terceira (Portugal) – February 2000, Smithsonian Institution Global Volcanism Program.