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Seismic activity all but stopped late on Monday, the Canary
Islands Volcanology Institute, Involcan, said. It is the longest
period without tremors since the eruption began on Sept. 19.
"We can see now that the seismicity is very weak, the
deformation is zero, the tremor is zero," Ruben Lopez, a
geologist with the Spanish geographical institute, said.
"Now, with these parameters, we can see the volcano had stopped,
and maybe we could start to see the end of the La Palma volcanic
eruption."
Emissions of sulphur dioxide, which had forced a lockdown of a
third of the island's population before the volcano went silent,
were "extremely low" on Tuesday, Involcan said.
Still, experts from the eruption response committee do not rule
out a resumption of volcanic activity.
The eruption, which sent rivers of molten lava down the slopes
of Cumbre Vieja for weeks and expanded the size of the island by
more than 48 hectares, is the longest on La Palma, according to
records dating back to the 16th century.
Thousands of people have been evacuated, at least 2,910
buildings have been destroyed and the island's main livelihood,
banana plantations, have been devastated.
(Writing by Emma Pinedo, editing by Inti Landauro; Editing by
Janet Lawrence)
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