TEIDE PEAK

Spanish Pico De Teide, volcanic peak at the centre of the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands. At 12,198 feet (3,718 m), it is the highest point on Spanish soil. Teide is the peak atop El Piln, a 492-foot- (150-metre-) high volcanic cone that rises from a crater on the upper reaches of the mountain El Teide, which is itself a conglomeration of several volcanoes rising within a 10-mile- (16-kilometre-) wide caldera called Las Caadas. Snow covers the summit only in winter. Teide Peak has a crater about 260 feet (80 m) in diameter. Hot gases are ejected from vents within the crater and on the slopes. The last eruption of the mountain El Teide was in 1789 from an area called Las Narices del Teide on its southwestern slopes. El Teide dominates Teide National Park (established 1954), in which it is located. An international solar observatory is located at Izaa, about four miles northeast of the park.