In the modern era, geologic and archeological investigations hint at an intriguing possibility -- that the demise of Atlantis may be related to a catastrophic Bronze Age eruption in the Aegean Sea, which generated a flooded caldera and destroyed an advanced Minoan civilization living on the island group of Santorini.
Santorini, named by early Venetians in honor of Saint Irene, forms a circular group of islands belonging to the Cyclades island chain in the southern Aegean Sea, located midway between mainland Greece to the west, Turkey to the east, and the island of Crete to the south.
The Cyclades form part of the Aegean island arc system, generated by northward subduction of the African plate along the arcuate Hellenic trench system located south of Crete. Within this plate-tectonic setting, the ring-shaped group of islands known as Santorini includes Thera the largest , Therasia little Thera , Aspronisi , and the central Kameni Islands.
The geologic record at Santorini reveals a long history of volcanic activity, consistent with its subduction-zone setting.
The archeological record indicates that Santorini has been inhabited by numerous civilizations going back to the 13 th century BC, contemporaneous with the most recent eruptive events. Historic eruptions may well have provided dramatic events, if not catastropic hazards, to these various civilizations.
Archeological excavations near the city of Akrotiri in southern Thera have revealed Bronze Age ruins of a particularly large and vibrant city, with well-preserved frescos and paintings, together with numerous artifacts.
The artifacts indicate that the island of Thera was colonized by the Minoans, a Bronze Age civilization named after the legendary King Minos of Crete.
Thera appears to have had a thriving Minoan economy provided by intensive trade througout the eastern Mediterranean. Today, the remains of this flourishing community lie buried under a thick blanket of pumice generated by a massive Late Bronze Age eruption.
Satellite images. Recent volcano satellite images Browse quickly through the latest satellite imagery from volcanoes all over the world in order to spot ash clouds and hot spots. Lava fountains. Kilauea volcano, Hawai'i Kilauea is the most active volcano on earth, in constant eruption since ! Get the ad-free version! Why is there advertising on this site? Matthew Pound does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
Take the ferry to the beautiful Greek islands of Santorini and you will sail into a truly unique landscape forged by a cataclysm towards the end of the Bronze Age. From either the north or south your ship will leave the brilliant blue seas of the Aegean and enter a natural harbour flanked by majestic cliffs.
Ferries pass between the large island of Thira and the smaller island of Thirasia, while straight ahead a small island in the centre of the natural harbour, Nea Kameni, looks like a molehill surrounded by mountains. It is on Nea Kameni, among hot springs and sulphurous vents, that you can begin to understand the natural history and formation of this island.
The harbour, the cliffs, the elegant white houses with blue roofs; all are part of a huge volcano. Sometime during the mid-second millennium BC, Santorini erupted. It was one of the biggest volcanic events in human history. The Santorini volcano is a caldera, a type of volcano that erupts so violently that its middle collapses in on itself forming a huge crater. How this crater came to be is the focus of a new paper in Nature Communications by Paraskevi Nomikou and colleagues.
They have published high-resolution seabed maps and combined these with seismic evidence for what rocks the seabed is made of in the caldera to explain how the volcano collapsed, filled with water and might have produced tsunamis. Prior to the eruption the modern caldera did not exist.
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