Minoan eruption

Minoan eruption
Satellite image of Thera, November 21, 2000
Volcano	Thera
Date	mid 2nd millennium BCE between 1642-1540 BCE
Type	Plinian
Location	Santorini, Greece 36°25′N 25°26′E / 36.417°N 25.433°E / 36.417; 25.433Coordinates: 36°25′N 25°26′E / 36.417°N 25.433°E / 36.417; 25.433
VEI	6 or 7
Impact	Devastated the Minoan settlements of Akrotiri, the island of Thera and communities and agricultural areas on nearby islands, and the coast of Crete with a related earthquake or tsunami.
Thera

The Minoan eruption of Thera, also referred to as the Thera eruption or Santorini eruption, was a major catastrophic volcanic eruption with a Volcanic Explosivity Index (VEI) of 6 or 7 and a dense-rock equivalent (DRE) of 60 km³ (14 cu mi), Dated to the mid-second millennium BCE, the eruption was one of the largest volcanic events on Earth in recorded history. It devastated the island of Thera (now called Santorini), including the Minoan settlement at Akrotiri and communities and agricultural areas on nearby islands and the coast of Crete with a related earthquake or tsunami.

There are no clear ancient records of the eruption, which may have inspired certain Greek myths, caused turmoil in Egypt and be alluded to in a Chinese chronicle.

Geological evidence shows the Thera volcano erupted numerous times over several hundred thousand years before the Minoan eruption. In a repeating process, the volcano would violently erupt, then eventually collapse into a roughly circular seawater-filled caldera, with numerous small islands forming the circle. The caldera would slowly refill with magma, building a new volcano, which erupted and then collapsed in an ongoing cyclical process.

Immediately prior to the Minoan eruption, the walls of the caldera formed a nearly continuous ring of islands with the only entrance lying between Thera and the tiny island of Aspronisi. This cataclysmic eruption was centered on a small island just north of the existing island of Nea Kameni in the centre of the then-existing caldera. The northern part of the caldera was refilled by the volcanic ash and lava, then collapsed again.

Research by a team of international scientists in 2006 revealed that the Santorini event was much larger than the original estimate of 39 km³ (9.4 cu mi) of Dense-Rock Equivalent (DRE), or total volume of material erupted from the volcano, that was published in 1991. With an estimated DRE in excess of 60 km³ (14 cu mi), the volume of ejecta was approximately 100 km³ (24 cu mi). If so, the eruption's Volcanic Explosivity Index was 7. The volcano ejected up to four times as much as the well-recorded eruption by Krakatoa in 1883. The Thera volcanic events and subsequent ashfall probably sterilized the island, as occurred on Krakatoa. Only the Mount Tambora volcanic eruption of 1815, Lake Taupo's Hatepe eruption around 180 CE, and perhaps the Baekdu Mountain eruption around 970 CE released more material into the atmosphere during historic times.