As of: March 28, 2024, 12:47 p.m
By: Tanja Banner
Comments
Press
Split
Researchers can detect an eruption of the volcano near Santorini in the year 726. This has significance for today: it makes the volcano more dangerous.
Santorini – The Greek archipelago of Santorini is best known for its white houses with blue roofs, which are picturesquely spread across the islands. What many tourists don't realize: Santorini is also one of the best-researched volcanic systems in the world. The islands are arranged in a ring and form the edge of a caldera that is flooded by the sea. A caldera is the bowl-shaped depression left by a volcanic eruption. At the center is the active volcano Kameni, which forms the islands of Palea Kameni and Nea Kameni.
The current shape of the Santorini archipelago emerged after the devastating Minoan eruption of the volcano around 3,600 years ago. At that time, the volcano emitted large amounts of ash and pumice and ultimately collapsed, creating the current shape of Santorini. But this wasn't the first caldera collapse in the volcano's history. “We now know of at least five such events within the last 500,000 years,” says Jonas Preine from the University of Hamburg. Preine is lead author of a new study on the volcano near Santorini, which
was published in the journal
Nature Geoscience .
Volcano near the Greek island group of Santorini goes through caldera cycles
“Like other large volcanic systems, Santorini goes through caldera cycles. After a very large eruption, the new cycle begins with small but frequent eruptions, while the volcanic system slowly fills with magma again,” explains the expert in a statement. “Then it continues to mature, the eruptions become larger but less frequent, before the system is ready to produce a new caldera-forming eruption.” This typically happens over periods of a few tens of thousands of years.
Currently, the Santorini volcano is in the phase where magma is accumulating. However, Kameni is far from a new caldera collapse. In the current phase, experts do not expect any major explosive eruptions - at least that has been the state of science so far. However, the new study, for which a research team led by Preine carried out seismic and drilling experiments on site, now calls this hypothesis into question.
White houses, blue roofs – this is how idyllic the Greek island group of Santorini is. But the islands form the edge of a caldera, with the active volcano Kameni at its center. It's apparently more dangerous than previously thought. (Archive image) © IMAGO/Michael Bihlmayer
Santorini volcano Kameni erupted in 726 - this calls into question a hypothesis
The research team was able to detect and reconstruct an eruption of the volcano in the early summer of 726. By drilling to depths of up to 300 meters, the team was able to find a layer of gray pumice and ash up to 40 meters thick that was clearly related to the eruption. “This eruption must have taken place largely underwater within the flooded caldera, as almost no deposits from the eruption were found on land,” says Jens Karstens, marine geophysicist at the GEOMAR Helmholtz Center for Ocean Research Kiel and second author of the study. “That fits with the historical eyewitness traditions.”
The eruption in 726 was 30 times smaller than the famous Minoan eruption, emphasizes Preine and explains: “It is very unlikely that a comparable eruption will happen again in the near future.” At the same time, the new findings have important implications for the risk assessment of the volcano near Santorini, because they indicate that larger explosive eruptions can also occur during the early phase of the caldera cycle.
My news
Nasty scam with the Rosenheim cops: Actors pack with atrocities read out in their name
54 mins ago
Flixbus accident on the A9 near Leipzig: Confusion about three missing passengers - investigations into driver reading
She had planned Gottschalk's visit to BR completely differently: Schöneberger lost his composure
“Brazen” Ukrainian attacks in Russia? Ex-US general warns of “terrible recommendation” read
2 hours ago
Cheese recall: Federal Office warns of health risks – according to the RKI, three groups are particularly susceptible to focus reading
Strong earthquake in Italy and Austria: Read “Heard a terrible bang”.
Research team warns: Santorini volcano can produce “highly explosive eruptions”.
The discovery of the eruption "implies that the Santorini volcanic system was capable of producing highly explosive eruptions in its current early stage of the caldera cycle," the research team writes in the study. If a comparable eruption were to take place today, it would have “serious consequences not only for the residents of Santorini and its neighboring islands, but also for the entire Eastern Mediterranean,” the paper continues.
The research team cites the consequences of an eruption as “tsunamis triggered by underwater explosions, extensive pumice blocks and large airborne ash clouds, which can have significant impacts on coastal communities, aviation, maritime transport and submarine cables.”
Study calls for early warning strategies for residents and tourists on Santorini
“If we were unaware of the deposits from such a large eruption from a volcano as well studied as Santorini, we must assume that our global eruption records have a significant blind spot for submarine explosive eruptions,” says study author Preine. In the paper, he writes together with his research team that monitoring of the volcano and early warning strategies are necessary for the Santorini archipelago. After all, more than 15,000 people live on Santorini, and more than two million tourists arrive every year.
(tab)