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Three millions years ago there were probably just three islands consisting of the Anaga, the Teno Massif and Valle San Lorenzo. They were melted into the Tenerife Island during a gigantic volcanic process which created the island’s mighty backbone, the Cumbre Dorsal, and its enormous central volcano. The original volcano probably never blew of its cone, but instead collapsed slightly into itself, leaving behind one of the largest calderas in the world, Las Canadas.
The last major volcanic activity on Tenerife took place around 500,000 years ago. At first the Pico Viejo was flung up out of the valley of the original crater, and it later became today’s Pico del Teide. The most recent eruption occurred in 1909 on the Chinyero.
There are many valleys in Tenerife, mainly close to the Teide Mountain and Las Canadas. Alongside the high plain of La Laguna and the high valley of Santiago del Teide, there are several other, smaller, like Valle de Orotava, Valle de Guimar, the Valle de Guerra in the northeast and the Valle San Lorenzo in the southest.
The valleys in Tenerife are rather rifts between the various mountain ridges, partially filled with eroded stone. The volcanic soil in these valleys is extremely fertile and most of the island’s agriculture is situated here.
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