The central islands are extremely mountainous with many valleys and deep ravines. The eastern islands are the oldest and are therefore heavily eroded, with great expanses of undulating terrain composed of materials from old volcanic edifices. The most recent submarine volcanic activity in the Canary Islands occurred in October 2011, just 2.5 km south of El Hierro. La Palma is the oldest, at around 2 Ma, and El Hierro the youngest (1.1 Ma).

The eastern islands of Lanzarote and Fuerteventura are the oldest, emerging around 16-22 million years ago (Ma), followed by the central islands of Gran Canaria, Tenerife and La Gomera, aged roughly between 8.5 and 14.5 Ma. The highest point is Mt Teide in Tenerife and, at 3,718 m asl, it is also the highest in all Macaronesia. The total area of the Canary Islands is 7,447 km2 and the total length of the coastline is 1,583 km. The lighthouse at La Entallada in Fuerteventura is less than 100 km from Cape Juby on the nearby African coast. The archipelago is made up of seven larger (Tenerife, La Palma, La Gomera, El Hierro, Gran Canaria, Lanzarote and Fuerteventura) and much smaller islands (Alegranza, La Graciosa, Montaña Clara, Lobos, Roque del Este and Roque del Oeste). The archipelago of the Canary Islands is located between latitudes 29º 24’ 40ˮ N of Punta Mosegos (Alegranza) and 27º 38’ 16ˮ N of Punta de los Saltos (El Hierro) and between longitudes 13º 19’ 54ˮ W of La Baja (Roque del Este) and 18º 09’ 38ˮ W of Roque del Guincho (El Hierro).

Canari island