Volcanologists from the University of Leicester have uncovered one of the world's best-preserved accessible examples of a monstrous1（巨大的，怪异的） landslide2 that followed a huge volcanic3 eruption4 on the Canarian island of Tenerife. Seven hundred and thirty-three thousand years ago, the southeast slopes of Tenerife collapsed5 into the sea, during the volcanic eruption. The onshore remains6 of this landslide have just been discovered amid the canyons7（峡谷） and ravines（沟壑） of Tenerife's desert landscape by volcanologists Pablo Dávila-Harris and Mike Branney of the University of Leicester's Department of Geology.
The findings have been published in this October's edition of the international journal Geology. The research was funded by CONACYT, Mexico.
Dr Branney said: "It is one of the world's best-preserved accessible examples of such an awesome8 phenomenon, because the debris9 from such landslides10 mostly spreads far across the deep ocean floor, inaccessible11 for close study.
"The beautifully-displayed Tenerife rubble12 includes blocks of rapidly chilled lava13（火山岩浆） , added as the volcano erupted. Radioactive minerals within them enabled the researchers' colleague, Michael Storey at Roskilde University, Denmark, to provide such a precise date for this natural catastrophe14.
"Climate change is often invoked15 as a trigger for ocean-island landslides, but in this case it seems that a growing dome16 of hot lava triggered the landslide by pushing the side of the volcano outwards17.
"In the shattered landscape that remained, lakes formed as rivers were dammed by debris, and the change to the shape of the island altered the course of explosive volcanic eruptions18 for hundreds of thousands of years afterwards."
The researchers state that such phenomena19 are common but infrequent, and understanding them is vital, for their effects go far beyond a single ocean island. Tsunamis20 generated from such events may travel to devastate21 coastlines thousands of miles away.
"Understanding the Earth's more violent events will help us be prepared, should repeat performances threaten," they state.
收听单词发音 
