Hotspot-induced lineaments of islands represent an opportunity to study the long-term evolution of volcanic landforms, following volcanic and morphological stages (Hawaii, Society). This work focus on the construction and destruction rates of hotspot volcanic islands. The Canary Islands are selected because the slow-moving African plate and a composite mantle plume extend the duration of volcanism (20-25 Ma), providing a broad variety of chronological and morphological markers. The methodology to assess construction rates is based on the correlation of K-Ar ages with remnant paleomagnetic polarities. During the first stages (shield stage), the destruction is mostly represented by massive and instantaneous failures, involving about tens of km³. These events have immediate consequences (scarps, debris avalanches, tsunamis), but they also influence the further volcanic and morphological evolution of the islands. We have built a morphometric database of 122 barrancos and erosion amphitheatre. Long-term erosion rates (vertical incision rates and back-weathering of barrancos), particularly high during the rejuvenated stages, and submarine sedimentation rates mainly depend on the dynamics, spatial distribution and rates of volcanic construction, and on the recurrence of the massive failures. This methodology, developed in the Canary Islands, could be enlarged to others hotspot archipelagos.