ABSTRACT
The nine volcanic islands of the Azores are located in the Atlantic Ocean about two hours flying time and 1500km from Lisbon (Portugal), and about five hours flying time or 3900km from the eastern coast of North America (Azores.com, 2009a). The Azores have a total area of 355km2, sit on top of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, where mountains sometimes reach above sea level (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2009), thus forming islands of volcanic origin. The Azores have been created by outpourings of lava from the ocean floor, due to the high level of activity in the area which is a result of three major tectonic plates meeting at this point (Siebert and Simkin, 2002). The North American Plate to the north-west of the Azores is gradually drifting west, the Eurasian Plate to the north-east is drifting east and south and finally the African Plate is drifting east and north. The small Azores Microplate, which is drifting westwards, further complicates the picture. The last volcano to erupt in the archipelago was the Capelinhos volcano (Vulcão dos Capelinhos) in 1957, in the western part of Faial Island, increasing the size of that island by 2.4km.
