The Atlantis research campaign has uncovered a new volcanic ridge, Los Atlantos, northeast of Alegranza, alongside signs of recent activity near Africa’s continental margin that’s more recent than previously believed
Launched in summer 2024 by the Spanish Geological and Mining Institute (IGME) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), the Atlantis campaign set out to locate ancient sunken volcanic islands north of the Canary Islands. The project draws its name from the myth of Atlantis, the legendary islands lost beneath the sea. The findings are expected to be published in the coming days.
Aboard the CSIC oceanographic vessel Sarmiento de Gamboa, the research team was led by IGME research professor Luis Somoza Losada. It comprised scientists from Complutense University, ULPGC, Evora and Lisbon universities, the Canary Islands Volcanological Institute (INVOLCAN) in Tenerife, the Spanish Navy’s Hydrographic Institute, and Portugal’s marine research agency EMEPC.
The expedition deployed Portugal’s unmanned ROV 6000, a state-of-the-art submersible capable of descending to 6,000 metres. This ROV meticulously mapped the seabed, captured high-resolution 5K photographs, and collected geological samples. For Atlantis, operations were conducted primarily between depths of 100 and 2,500 metres.
This is the same team that previously discovered the ancient, now submerged islands dubbed The Grandmothers, south of the archipelago, landmasses that once shared many characteristics with the present-day Canaries. However, this latest expedition focused northwards to search for The Mothers, a group of islands which were submerged more recently. Their scope also extended to The Daughters: the Tagoro submarine volcano off El Hierro and the underwater extension of the recent Tajogaite eruption off La Palma.
The expedition located these Mother Islands east of Madeira and the Selvagens Islands. Additionally, they discovered a previously unknown volcanic ridge resembling the Tajogaite formation. Aptly named Los Atlantos, it lies approximately 190 km northeast of Alegranza, rising between 1,985 and 2,180 metres above the ocean floor.
Crucial findings include signs of fault-controlled subsidence, such as deep-sea oyster banks, located over 500 metres below the surface and evidence of recent volcanic activity east of Tenerife and Lanzarote. The latter lies precisely along the boundary with the African continental margin, a geologically unique zone shaped by the interaction between the islands’ magmatic processes and the tectonic forces of the African plate. These newly discovered submarine volcanoes might be younger than previously thought and resemble the underwater equivalents of Lanzarote’s iconic Timanfaya landscape.
