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Landslides have been a key process in the evolution of the western Canary Islands. The younger and more volcanically active Canary Islands, El Hierro, La Palma and Tenerife, show the clearest evidence of recent landslide activity. The evidence includes landslide scars on the island flanks, debris deposits on the lower island slopes, and volcaniclastic turbidites on the floor of the adjacent ocean basins. At least 14 large landslides have occurred on the flanks of the El Hierro, La Palma and Tenerife, the majority of these in the last 1 million years, with the youngest, on the northwest flank of El Hierro, as recent as 15 thousand years in age. Older landslides undoubtedly occurred, but are difficult to quantify because the evidence is buried beneath younger volcanic rocks and sediments. Landslides on the Canary Island flanks can be categorised as debris avalanches, slumps or debris flows. Debris avalanches are long …