So far this century there has been a confirmed report of a one mile rise in the floor of the ocean 576 miles north of Azores when a trans-atlantic cable broke. Dr David F. Zhirov in 1970 reported sand beaches and coral at a depths of 2 miles south of the Azores. Confirmed evidence exists that sections of the Mid-Atlantic ridge have been above sea level in the past and fresh water diatoms have been found 2 miles down in the Azores area dated 10,000 to 12,000 BC.
Volcanic material described as un-dissolved tachylite was found on Telegraph Bank 500 miles north of Azores, indicating that it had been laid down above sea level at some time between 50,000 BC and 10,000 BC. Sediment core analysis at locations off the coast of Africa have proved a 2 mile sinkage of volcanic island structures similar to those of the Azores.

Corvo along with Flores are the two westernmost islands of the archipelago, and hence, the last inch of European soil. It was here in the early 1500's, that Damiao de Goes, under the employment of King Dom Manoel of Portugal, wrote of a statue of a man on horseback pointing to the west which was clinging to a rocky ledge. The king asked for a drawing of it, and after seeing the drawing, he sent someone to bring it back. As the story goes, it was shattered in a storm en route, but the king received the parts. There too was an inscription in the rock below the statue, and an impression was taken of it. But neither the shattered parts of the statue, nor the impression of the inscription were ever found.33 Was it a hoax? Scholars are still unsure.Some have speculated that the statue was really just one of many rock formations seen on the island and nothing more.34 Others feel it did exist and could have been evidence of the lost continent of Atlantis, or of another settlement of ancient peoples. Coins too were found on Corvo, and their images were published in a journal of the Society of Gothenberg. They were considered to be of Carthagenian or Cyrenean origin by the society.35 A twentieth century Portuguese scholar, made a serious effort to locate the coins. He went to the convent to which they were first supposedly taken. He also visited museums where he thought information could be found. But his investigation turned up nothing.36

The Azores is a lively place to be. There is a continuous chain of earthquakes and volcanic activity that has had a great effect on its inhabitants. Many of them have left the islands in horror after witnessing one of these catacylysmic events. But disasters are bound to happen when a volcanic environment is home for thousands of human beings.89

There have been 21 major volcanic eruptions in the past 550 years collectively occurring on the islands of Sao Miguel, Terceira, Pico, Sao Jorge, and Faial

There have been 18 major temblors on the islands in recorded history.99 One such quake took place in 1522 when the entire village of Villa Franca, on Sao Miguel island, having 5,000 residents, and being the center of government, was engulfed within sixty seconds by land mass thrown from a hill behind the village. It caused a tidal wave and other destruction in the adjascent islands. It took a year to dig the village out and to give Christian burials to its 5,000 victims.