Santorini / Island of Thera - Click to enlarge.
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Santorini is a shield volcano in the Aegean Sea about 100 kilometers north of Crete. It is part of the Cyclades volcanic island chain.
Santorini volcano has erupted numerous times, producing massive, overlapping
calderas at 100,000 years before present, 54,000 YBP, 18,500 YBP and 3,500 YBP. The eruption that produced the youngest caldera destroyed the Minoan civilization on the island of Crete (excavations there suggest that the area was evacuated prior to the eruption - probably by threatening earthquakes and volcanic activity). These events are thought to have sparked the story of the lost civilization of Atlantis.
Today, the islands of Thera, Therasia and Aspronisi form the Santorini Archipelago, which surrounds the central, steep-walled caldera bay.
A team of Greek and U.S. researchers have completed a seismic survey of the ocean floor in the area of the Santorini Archapelago. Based upon this survey they conclude that the Santorini eruption of 3,500 years ago was about twice as powerful as originally believed. Their estimate places it as the second most powerful eruption in human history, exceeded only by the eruption of Tambora, in
Indonesia, in 1815.
Image by USGSRead National Geographic's account of the
Santorini Eruption.
Labels: Volcanoes
