La Palma volcano latest news – will Cumbre Vieja erupt and could it trigger a tsunami that hits the UK?

FEARS are growing that a volcano on the popular Brit tourist destination of La Palma could be on the verge of erupting.

More than 40 mini earthquakes in 48 hours were recently recorded on the island sparking large tremors coming from the active Cumbre Vieja volcano. Here's the latest news...

Will the Cumbre Vieja erupt?

Cumbre Vieja, on La Palma near the tourist hotspot of Tenerife, is the most active volcano in the Canary Islands.

It has recently been rocked by dozens of seismic movements of low magnitude between 1.5 and 2.7.

More than 40 mini quakes struck in 48 hours between October 7 and 9.

The largest of the tremors registered 2.7 on the Richter scale and struck 17.4 miles underground.

Hundreds more rocked the tinderbox island in jusy 15 hours from October 13-14.

The quakes have sparked fears the island's huge Cumbre Vieja, which means "Old Summit", could blow.

As concerns grew, a team of scientists was reportedly rushed in to monitor the murmurming mountain.

According to , the boffins will sample underground water to meaure PH levels, conductivity, temperature and radon dissolved gas activitiy.

Experts from the National Geographic Institute have also been monitoring the site.

Geologists are taking CO2 gas samples and studying the structure and strength of the volcano.

How much damage could an eruption cause in the Canary Islands?

The last time the volcano erupted was in 1971. But La Palma is considered to be the most active island in the archipelago.

The tremors in October sparked panic among La Palma's 86,000 residents, with volcano experts labelling the tremor activity as "a seismic swarm".

Experts have warned if the huge volcano erupts, it will collapse into the sea – sparking an 80ft tsunami tidal wave that would engulf Spain, Britain and the east coast of the US.

But geologist Professor Iain Stewart said people in Britain should not be living in fear of a devastating mega tsunami sweeping towards our coast.

He said: "I'm not going to say it's rubbish - but it hasn't happened since the beginning of civilisation.

"The short answer is that it's not happened in the last 10,000 years. At the moment there is definitely nothing to be disturbed about."

Could it trigger a tsunami that hits the UK?

It's conceivable that the UK could be hit by a tsunami caused by the volatile volcano in La Palma, though debate rages about how big the Palma one would be by the time it reached Britain.

Professor David Tappin, a tsunami specialist at the British Geological Survey, told Sun Online: "The UK has been impacted by tsunamis in the past.

"Their major hazard is that they can be generated at one location and then they can travel long distances across the ocean and still be dangerous."

"It has been suggested that a collapse at Cumbre Vieja would generate a dangerous tsunami locally, but also that it would travel outwards."

Prof Tappin said that were a tsunami to strike the southern coast of Britain, the waves could reach about two metres.

Waves of that height could overpower anyone standing on a beach and flood inlets along the south coast.

it wouldn't be the first time that Britain was engulfed by a tsunami.

Around 8,000 years ago, a terrifying 30-metre tsunami came from an underwater landslide near Norway, killing untold numbers of unsuspecting people in its path and reaching as far as the Shetlands.

If the UK ever faced freak 30-metre waves again, we would see a tsunami so huge that it would crash around a third of the way up Big Ben, standing at 100 metres.