A new name has been coined for the large chunks of volcanic material shot out into the ocean off the coast of El Hierro during the recent underwater eruption.

Scientists are still not sure about the exact content of the globular “bombs” but they have been dubbed “restingolitas” after the fishing town of La Restinga which had to be evacuated twice during a red alert.

Examples have gone on show in the Museum of Nature and Man on Tenerife which visitors will find fascinating as the situation on El Hierro appears to at last be settling down. The specimens were unveiled by museums councillor for Tenerife Cabildo Amaya Conde and director of the Museum of Natural Science of Tenerife Lázaro Sánchez-Pinto.

The name 'restingolitas' means “stones of La Restinga”. They are dark on the outside and white inside and float because they weigh less than the seawater. They look like volcanic bombs, shaped more or less like globes and mostly between 10 and 30 centimetres in diameter. They contain large amounts of trapped gases at high pressure, which are released when they reach the sea surface, hence the appearance of floating stones that give off smoke.

The dark outer crust has a glassy texture and its thickness varies. The origin of the white interior is not yet known though some geologists believe it is rhyolite, a type of magma which produces highly explosive eruptions.