Escultura y entorno volcánico. Canarias

The Canary Islands are entirely composed of volcanic materials. The magmas that form the archipelago are initially ultramafic (silica content less than 45%, high percentages of MgO and FeO, fluidal eruptions). As they ascend through the Earth’s crust, with decreasing pressure/temperature and the crystallization of elements with higher melting points, the fluidal part of the magma becomes increasingly alkaline (reaching over 70% silica content, leading to domatic and eventually explosive eruptions). It should also be noted that each of the Canary Islands is at a different evolutionary stage: dismantling phase in the eastern islands (outcropping of endogenous and altered materials), intermediate in the central islands (altered exogenous deposit materials), and active growth in the westernmost islands (young, unoxidized materials). Due to the aforementioned circumstances—magmatic differentiation, eruptive types, growth/dismantling phases—we have at our disposal an exceptionally wide range of igneous materials, very diverse in terms of composition, texture, resistance to impact and abrasion, or polishing possibilities, which can be adapted, in the field of sculpture, to different aesthetic communication needs. This work analyzes different families of volcanic rocks: basalts, phonolites, trachytes, ignimbrites, and pumices, highlighting their main structural and visuo-tactile characteristics, which correlate with the possibilities and limits in sculpture, both at the compositional level and in the processes of roughing, carving, and surface treatment.