Volcanic bombs
Original title: Bombas Vulcanicas
Describes volcanic bombs, basaltic projectiles from ancient eruptions found on the younger volcanic cones of Madeira and the other islands, together with rope-like basalt forms.
Bodies of basaltic nature, sometimes rounded, sometimes oblong and tapering at the ends, and almost always marked with parallel longitudinal grooves. They are projectiles hurled into the air long ago by volcanic activity that ceased many centuries ago. They are commonly found, sometimes loose and sometimes embedded, on the slopes of the most recent volcanic cones in the low-lying parts of Madeira and on the other islands of the archipelago. Lodged in the tuffs of these slopes, alongside the volcanic bombs, are other basalt bodies, elongated and twisted like ropes. Although these share the same volcanic origin, they were perhaps formed in a different way from the bombs proper. Characteristic specimens of both appear in many localities, among them Porto Moniz, São Martinho, Garajau, Caniçal, Porto Santo and Selvagem Grande.
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Place
Places mentioned · 06
1 - Caniçal
Machico. Locality where characteristic volcanic bombs are found.
Isolated fishing parish at the eastern tip of Madeira, at the root of Ponta de São Lourenço. It originated as a Moniz entail and João Teixeira's hunting reserve and became a parish around 1561. It holds a Piedade feast with a boat procession and has a fort built after a pirate raid.
- Garajau
Santa Cruz. Locality where characteristic volcanic bombs are found.
Garajau is a headland closing Funchal bay to the east, 2.9 miles from Funchal, named after the terns found there by the discoverers. It is topped by a basalt dyke, bears a chapel of Nossa Senhora das Neves and the 1927 Sacred Heart statue, and had a telegraph from 1839 to 1847. It is noted for volcanic bombs, a surviving dragon tree, the only wild norça, Senecio incrassatus and deep-water shells, and is recommended as a viewpoint.
- Porto Moniz
Locality where characteristic volcanic bombs are found.
North-western parish and municipality with a quay and a tolerable port that serves as a good landing when southerly winds close the south coast. It has one of the oldest Magdalene chapels in northern Madeira, whose feast falls on 22 July. It was the birthplace of Dr Manuel Gomes Jardim.
- Porto Santo
Island where characteristic volcanic bombs are found.
An island of the archipelago, settled alongside Madeira and forming one of the three captaincies. It has always constituted a single parish, dedicated to Nossa Senhora da Piedade, whose church was repeatedly sacked. The Elucidário records the Moorish pirate raid of 1617, its own Misericórdia and a rainwater channel built on this drought-prone island.
- São Martinho
Funchal. Locality where characteristic volcanic bombs are found.
São Martinho is a suburban parish west of Funchal, created in 1579 from São Pedro and partly added to the city in 1927. It had sugar factories, grew Tinta vines, and has characteristic volcanic bombs. It is the reputed birthplace of D. Nuno de Aguiar.
- Selvagem Grande
Funchal · Selvagens. Island where characteristic volcanic bombs are found.
Selvagem Grande is the largest island of the Selvagens group, with cisterns, springs and shelters; its highest point is the Pico da Atalaia and the two Palheiros rocks lie nearby. The Elucidário notes its limestone and selenite deposits and characteristic volcanic bombs, and records that it is the only locality of the fossil genus Cabralia. Its geology was studied by Adolfo César de Noronha and in a 1911 paper by Gagel, it was the subject of one of Somerville's 1915 charts, and rodents there prey on seabird eggs.