All of the islands in the Azores are the result of volcanic activity. The Azores are situated at the intersection of three continental plates. The continental plates are surrounded by fault lines which cause frequent earthquakes and volcanos. The Azores Islands are the geological result of seismic activity between the plates.
The area around Faial has experienced a number of volcanos over time that have erupted to form what we now know as Faial. The largest and most impressive of the volcano eruption sites forms the highest points on Faial. It is now a National Park are known as the Caldeira do Faial. It arises in more or less the center of the island and subsequent (more recent) eruptions have followed a fault line heading Northwest from the center. The National Park extends down a ridge from the center to the Northwest corner of the island. There is a nice 27 km hike down the ridge which we elected to forgo in favor of driving. The most recent eruption was in 1958-1959. That eruption actually began offshore of the Northwest of the island and gradually connected to the existing land mass thereby increasing the size of Faial.
The first pictures in this set are of the main caldera at the center of Faial. the tunnel leads from the parking area into a area overlooking the basin of the volcano. It is quite an impressive site and hard to take in all at once. There are hiking trails going down into the caldera but you must have a guide to go inside. There is also a trail around the rim of this caldera.
The next pictures in this series begin with the mountain that has no vegetation on it. I took this picture as we were driving to the Northwest end of the island. The eruption in the late 1950’s went on for 15 months and covered much of that area of the island with volcanic ash. Much of this area of Faial was left uninhabited and many of the previous residents immigrated to the United States.
I included a couple of close up shots of what the area covered with ash looks like. Much of this area is just barren ash fields. When the winds blow it scatters the ash everywhere and it builds up into drifts. Remember it has been over 50 years since the most recent eruption that caused all of the devastation to the area. It takes a long time for things to return to normal after a volcanic eruption.
The lighthouse in the following pictures is the original lighthouse that was here in the 50’s. It is no longer a functioning lighthouse and has been converted into a nice museum. the view of the big circle thing in the field of volcanic ash is the roof of the lighthouse museum. It is a very modern facility built out of concrete and buried in the ash field at the original ground level. Note the green vegetation in the distance where the ash coverage was not as severe and the plants have returned. the interior picture of the curving concrete room is a glimpse of the internal architecture. It is well worth the 10 euro cost to go through the museum if you are ever on Faial.
The rest of the pictures in this set are mostly of the new land created by the recent eruption. If you look closely at the shoreline pictures you can see that it is all made of what we typically recognize as volcanic rocks. It makes for a nice contrast where the ocean meets the volcanic rocks.