Madeira began to form more than 100 million years ago in the Early Cretaceous, although most of the island has formed in the last 66 million years of the Cenozoic, particularly in the Miocene and Pliocene. The island is an example of hotspot volcanism,^[1] with mainly mafic volcanic and igneous rocks, together with smaller deposits of limestone, lignite and other sediments that record its long-running uplift.

During the Early Cretaceous, massive sedimentation offshore of Africa built up enough stress on the crust to prompt fissuring and fracturing. Magma ascended to the surface and submarine eruptions began. By the Late Oligocene or Early Miocene, successive undersea eruptions throughout the early Cenozoic had built up enough material for the Madeira archipelago to appear above sea level. The rapid uplift of the island is recorded with offshore limestone deposits, leftover from coral reefs as well as onshore limestone up to 400 meters above sea level.^{[citation needed]}

The high altitude limestones are associated with the Vindobonian Volcanic Complex, which includes trachyte, diabase and dolerite intrusions, along with pyroclastic flow sediments.^[2]

Basalt is the most common rock type on Madeira and geologists have found a variety of different types including alkali-basalt, basanite and hawaiite.^[3]

Groundwater on Madeira is held in fractured volcanic rock aquifers, with widely varying transmissivity and dissolved mineral content. Water is generally slightly acidic to slightly alkaline and cold, although there are small quantities of thermal water near fault zones. Much of the water on the island comes from high-discharge springs.^[5]

Leptosols, cambisols and andisols are the three main soil types on the island.^[3]

Madeira has few natural resources and no mining, aside from small-scale extraction of sand and gravel for building material.

• Geology of the Canary Islands
• Geology of Cape Verde